EKF Molecular Diagnostics and GILUPI announce circulating tumor cell DNA enrichment and mutation detection from three or fewer cells

EKF Molecular Diagnostics and GILUPI, provider of medical devices for in vivo isolation of rare cells directly from a patient’s bloodstream, are discussing with conference attendees at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting results from collaborative work using the GILUPI CellCollector and EKF Molecular’s PointMan DNA Enrichment technology.

The first results of the collaboration have successfully demonstrated the detection of gene mutations from three or fewer cells isolated in a model in vitro system and from the blood of lung cancer patients. PointMan DNA Enrichment was used to detect and analyze cells with known mutation status that had been collected on GILUPI CellCollectors under laboratory conditions. The known mutations were those typically seen in lung (EGFR) and colorectal (KRAS) cancer. Positive results using PointMan assays for KRAS (codon 12/13) and EGFR (T790M and L858R) from cell lines with known mutations and patients were confirmed by Sanger sequencing, and showed conformance with known mutation status.

Andy Webb, CEO of EKF Molecular Diagnostics, comments, “These results are a clear indication of the utility of PointMan DNA enrichment on low cell numbers, in this case those isolated using the GILUPI CellCollector both in vitro and in vivo. These new results complement previous work on circulating free DNA using PointMan detection.”

Klaus Luecke, CEO and co-founder of GILUPI, says, “This is a major step forward for the future testing and monitoring of cancer patients. The isolation and subsequent characterization of low numbers of circulating tumor cells from the blood of cancer patients will become increasingly important as a liquid biopsy as a method to monitor disease progression and response to therapy.”  Learn more about PointMan DNA Enrichment technology.