Liquid biopsy company ANGLE plc (AIM: AGL) (OTCQX: ANPCY) announced on Monday that it has presented new proof-of-concept data demonstrating detection of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in glioblastoma patients using its Parsortix system. Findings were disclosed at the 7th Advances in Circulating Tumour Cells (ACTC) meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Blood samples from 15 newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve glioblastoma patients were processed with the Parsortix system and CellKeep slides. CTCs were identified in 60% of patients, with clusters observed in 78% of those CTC-positive, a result of particular significance given that circulating tumour DNA is detected in fewer than 10% of glioma patients. All detected CTCs exhibited a mesenchymal phenotype, undetectable via conventional CTC technologies reliant on surface markers.

Extracellular vesicles were observed in 73% of subjects, supporting the potential of liquid biopsy for dynamic monitoring in glioblastoma. ANGLE highlighted that harvesting and analysing CTCs and extracellular vesicles from a single blood sample enables minimally invasive, repeatable assessment of tumour biology, disease progression and therapy response.

The company said these findings reinforce the potential of its Parsortix technology to expand research, clinical monitoring and drug development in glioblastoma, a cancer type with high unmet medical need and poor prognosis.