BOLOGNA, Italy and HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa., February 16, 2021 – Menarini Silicon Biosystems, a pioneer of liquid biopsy and single cell technologies, announced today the launch of its innovative CellMag product line for the manual enrichment and staining of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This new product line, composed of the CellMag CTC Epithelial Cell kit, a magnetic tool and consumables, will allow all liquid biopsy and CTCs Laboratories to have access to a manual system using the same ferrofluid technology offered by the Gold Standard CELLSEARCH system.

This easy to use technology offers researchers who work on translational projects a reliable tool to study the heterogeneous biology of CTCs, whose presence in blood has been associated with poor prognosis in metastatic carcinomas[1].

Despite different available methods to capture CTCs, only the information obtained from CTCs that have been captured by the CELLSEARCH ferrofluid technology have shown a robust clinical value in different settings¹. Research laboratories will appreciate the convenience, simplicity and affordability of CellMag. Researchers can analyze and characterize enriched CTCs from a molecular perspective with a high level of specificity, gaining valuable insights into how certain tumors progress and disseminate throughout the body. “CellMag is a manual system for the capture and enhancement of CTCs using the established ferrofluid technology. Perfectly tailored to our research needs, it offers a manual version of the reference CELLSEARCH platform” said Dr. Catherine Alix-Panabières, Associate Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Rare Human Circulating Cells (LCCRH) at the University Medical Center of Montpellier, France.

The CellMag CTC Epithelial Cell kit allows research centers, focusing on liquid biopsies, to conduct highly specific, established and standardized immunomagnetic enrichment and staining of CTCs in peripheral blood. Following the positive selection of enriched cells, performed by capturing cells through ferrofluids labeled with antibodies that target the (EpCAM) antigen, the staining procedure delivers cells that are ready for enumeration, isolation and downstream analysis. The final step of cell sorting can be performed by the DEPArray system or other downstream applications including flow cytometry, fluorescent microscopy or molecular and phenotype analyses.

For Fabio Piazzalunga, President and CEO of Menarini Silicon Biosystems: “Our manual CellMag product line allows all liquid biopsy and CTCs Laboratories to reach high specificity in cell enrichment and staining, leveraging the established CELLSEARCH ferrofluid technology. With this simple and standardized solution we are committed to helping all researchers develop scientific understanding and improve medical knowledge related to human diseases.”

The CellMag product line family will be expanded in the coming months to offer a series of additional kits for the enrichment of other rare cell types.

About CELLMAG™

CELLMAG is intended for Research Use Only (RUO) – not for use in diagnostic procedures. This product line allows for highly specific and standardized cell enrichment and staining. Cells captured with the CellMag technology are comparable to those captured with the CELLTRACKS® AUTOPREP® System. The product line is composed of an epithelial CTC kit, for ferrofluid-based EpCAM positive CTC enrichment, a magnetic tool and consumables. The process involves a sample preparation phase, followed by the magnetic separation of CTCs, sample washing, permeabilization and staining.

For more information on the CELLMAG product line, please refer to www.siliconbiosystems.com/cellmag

About Menarini Silicon Biosystems

Menarini Silicon Biosystems offers unique rare cell technologies and solutions that provide clinical researchers with access to unparalleled resolution in the study of cells and their molecular characterization.

Menarini Silicon Biosystems, based in Bologna, Italy, and Huntingdon Valley, Pa., U.S., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group, a multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics company headquartered in Florence, Italy, with more than 17,000 employees in 140 countries.

Reference

[1] Riethdorf S, O'Flaherty L, Hille C, Pantel K. Clinical applications of the CellSearch platform in cancer patients. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2018 Feb 1;125:102-121. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2018.01.011. Epub 2018 Feb 2. PMID: 29355669.