On April 4, 2024 Nucleix, a liquid biopsy company revolutionizing cancer treatment by detecting the disease earlier, reported data from a pilot study demonstrating the potential of a simple PCR assay based on EpiCheck technology to accurately differentiate between small cell lung cancer (SCLC) subtypes (Press release, Nucleix, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641808]). The Company is presenting the data in a poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2024 in San Diego, April 5-10.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
The 13-marker PCR assay developed for this pilot study stemmed from data from a recent study published in Cancer Cell demonstrating the detection of SCLC using DNA methylation in plasma samples from heavy smokers, yielding a sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 95%. Based on the strength of these results, Nucleix collaborated with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop novel biomarkers for the classification of SCLC into subtypes to reduce time between diagnosis and tailored treatment interventions. In the data being presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), the 13-marker PCR assay correctly classified 97% of the SCLC tissue samples in a blinded cohort.
"For decades, SCLC was considered a single, monolithic entity resulting in our current clinical protocols being based on disease stage, with no consideration of biomarkers that have predictive or prognostic significance, leading to expectedly poor outcomes," said Mathias Ehrich, M.D., chief scientific officer. "These data show that we can potentially reduce the time between patient diagnosis and initiation of tailored treatment or inclusion in clinical studies from a month, in best-case scenarios, to just a few days, by using our PCR EpiCheck-based assay for the classification of SCLC subtypes."
Details of the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) presentation are as follows:
Title: "Subtype classification of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) tissues using the EpiCheck methylation sensitive restriction-based PCR platform"
Session Title: Epigenetic Targets in Oncology
Session Date and Time: Monday, April 8, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM PT
Session Type: Poster Presentation
Abstract / Poster Number: 1722 / 7