Datar Cancer Genetics touts liquid biopsy data

2019 09 12 23 41 0356 Cancer Cell Target 400

Datar Cancer Genetics is highlighting a study published in the International Journal of Cancer that showed a blood test it developed can detect clusters of circulating cancer cells to help identify early-stage disease.

Lead author Dr. Dadasaheb Akolkar, research director of Datar Cancer Genetics, and colleagues conducted a study that included 16,134 participants, 5,509 of whom had cancer and 10,625 of whom had no symptoms. The blood test identified the prevalence of circulating tumor emboli, which could be a new cancer marker, the group reported (Int J Cancer, November 30, 2019).

The test showed an accuracy of more than 94%, according to the company, with circulating tumor emboli identified in 89.8% of cancer cases and in 3% of asymptomatic patients.

"When clusters of cells break off from an [early-stage] tumor and enter the bloodstream we can ... isolate a few hundred malignant cells from more than 100 million cells, from just 10 [mL] of blood," Akolkar said in a company statement. "While almost all the cancer samples had these cell clusters, they were seen in very few of the samples which were apparently without cancer."

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