GILUPI GmbH announces the release of clinical data from a prostate cancer setting in August 2016.

The scientific paper demonstrate the isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood of prostate cancer patients with GILUPI CellCollector^®.

Liquid biopsy - isolating and analyzing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of prostate cancer patients - can provide additional information on prognosis of patients, treatment efficacy and molecular tumor evolution. Dr. Gerit Theil and further researcher from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg wanted to investigate the use of the GILUPI CellCollector^® - in a proof of concept study. After in vivo isolation, CTCs underwent enumeration and characterization using molecular methods.

The researcher tested the functionality of the GILUPI CellCollector^® in a preclinical step. They studied blood samples of 43 prostate cancer patients by applying the medical devices ex vivo.

Detection of CTCs in all tumor stages could be shown. The mean CTC count was 4.6 CTCs in patients with localized prostate cancer, 16.8 CTCs in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, and 26.8 CTCs in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. More importantly, it could be shown that there was a significant difference in the cancer-specific survival rates. Patients with CTC counts < 5 CTCs had significant longer survival rates than patients with more than 5 CTCs. Furthermore, Theil et al. demonstrated that the captured CTCs could be characterized on a molecular level. The investigators detected tumor-associated transcripts of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) in patients with metastatic PCa in 42.8% and 14.3% of the analyzed samples, respectively. The above data was generated to demonstrate to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical devices (Germany, BfArM) the safe and effective use prior to in vivo application of the GILUPI CellCollector^® in this indication. Further studies are ongoing to validate this finding as further diagnostic tool in the treatment of patients with prostate tumors.

The scientific paper entitled "The Use of a New CellCollector to Isolate Circulating Tumor Cells from the Blood of Patients with Different Stages of Prostate Cancer and Clinical Outcomes - A Proof-of-Concept Study.” by Theil et al., was published in PLoS One.

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