ANGLE’s (LON:AGL) medical diagnostics business, Parsortix, has made another important breakthrough.

Its cell separation device can capture prostate cancer cells, it was revealed today, having already been used successfully to capture cultured breast cancer cells added to human blood.

The latest results support the thesis that the device can be used to screen for any solid tumour cancers without need for modification.

If this is indeed the case, then it marks the Parsortix technology out as potentially being far more effective than the existing cancer tests, which are cancer-specific and often return false negative results.     

ANGLE founder and chief executive, Andrew Newland, said: “The successful capture and identification of prostate cancer cells added to blood further substantiates the potential for the Parsortix separation technology to become a market-leading product, which is simple, effective and affordable.”

Parsortix is the jewel in the crown of the ANGLE portfolio. its small, devilishly simple separation device has all sorts of ramifications for the way the disease is treated and monitored.

For a start it may be possible using the device to determine which treatments are working, and which are not.  

Now this promises a huge improvement in the way chemotherapy is administered. 

The device also has the potential to monitor patients in remission, and to pick up early signs of the return of the cancer, ahead of the patient experiencing any symptoms.  

The earlier the treatment, the greater the likelihood the patient will survive.

Furthermore, it may be possible to develop a simple blood test to provide routine screening of healthy people to check for early signs of cancer ahead of any symptoms.

Although still in its infancy, Parsortix technology may ultimately have the ability to identify all the hard tumour types, without knowing in advance which cancer is expected.  

This is a step on from the existing means of identifying circulating cancer cells, where the tests are specific to each cancer type and even then are not totally reliable.  

“we think ours has a much more universal application – hopefully to all solid tumours,” said Newland in a recent interview with Proactive Investors.

The company is currently in discussions with leading cancer research groups including the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester. 

The idea of this and other similar collaborations is to field test the device using blood taken from cancer patients. 

It also allows for development of the separation device and the supporting equipment in a real world setting. 

The potential clinical market is huge and is conservatively estimated by the company to be worth around US$4 billion annually in the United States alone.

However, to be sold for use in hospitals the device requires what’s called 510k approval from the all powerful US Food & Drug Administration and a CE Mark here in Europe. 

That process is likely to take a further 18 months of research, development and testing – and cost around £5 million.

Although the company is talking to potential partners, ANGLE may bankroll the development itself. 

It has options to achieve this, including the sale of one of the businesses in the company’s portfolio.

Alternatively it could fund the work by licensing selective use of the separation device to big pharmaceutical companies developing drugs for cancer as what’s called a companion diagnostic.

“that way we would get a big partner working with us, but wouldn’t give away the crown jewels,” Newland said.

“there is the potential to take the separation device rapidly into the research sales market as this does not require regulatory approval and that is our first target.” 

ANGLE owns 90 per cent of Parsortix.

All forms of cancer are categorized into different stages based on the extent to which they have spread in a patient’s body. The different stages of cancer are based on the size evaluation of the cancerous growth and also its penetration level in the organ or the surrounding healthy tissues. The stages of cancer are also based on the absence or the presence of the metastasis into the lymph nodes or into the other organs of the body. The Lung Cancer Symptoms also depend on the stages of the cancer and their type.

Staging a cancerous growth is very important in determining what type of treatment can be administered to the patient to treat the cancer. Determining the lung cancer stage is extremely useful in saving a patient’s life as most lung cancer symptoms are also symptoms of regular diseases and illnesses which are usually overlooked by patients and doctors.

Doctors perform a number of clinical tests to accurately determine the stage of the lung cancer and possible lung cancer symptoms that the patient may be suffering due to the disease. Some of the most common lung cancer tests include laboratory tests (blood chemistry checkups), CT Scans, X-rays, MRI scans, bone scans, etc. An abnormal blood chemistry test may directly signal metastases in the liver or the bones. Radiological tests are greatly helpful in determining the size of the lung cancer and to know the penetration level of the tumor.

The NSCLC type of Lung cancer is categorized between stages 1 to 4, based on their severity.

• Stage 1: this is the initial stage of the NSCLC. The cancer is restricted to the lung tissues only.

• Stage 2: in the second stage of lung cancer, the cancer starts growing slowly increasing its size and also penetrating deeper into the tissues of the lungs.

• Stage 3: The cancerous growth continues to grow in this stage growing larger and much deeper into the lung tissues.

• Stage 4: in this stage, the cancer has already spread from the chest to the various other parts of the body, thus making the treatment of the cancer very difficult.

The SCLC type of cancer is categorized into simple two types and the Lung Cancer Symptoms vary based on their classification.

• Limited stage SCLC: this type of cancer is confined specifically to its area, in the lungs.

• Extensive stage SCLC: this type of SCLC cancer spreads beyond the lungs, from the chest to the other parts of our body.