Northwestern University researchers use gold standard  liquid-biopsy technology to deepen understanding of metastatic breast cancer

Bologna, Italy and Huntingdon Valley, Pa. -- Menarini Silicon Biosystems, the pioneer of liquid biopsy and rare cell technologies, announced today that new research utilizing the company’s CELLSEARCH® Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) test will be featured at the upcoming 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Researchers from Northwestern University will present the results of three studies that used the FDA-cleared CELLSEARCH system to conduct CTC testing in a total of 463 breast cancer patients. The poster presentations provide preliminary insight into the use of liquid biopsy and CTC enumeration to help clinicians better understand the metastatic process and facilitate management of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

“Liquid biopsies enable us to monitor the disease over time and more fully understand the complexity, heterogeneity and evolution of the disease, which is critical to selecting better treatments,” said Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D., F.A.C.P., Associate Director of Translational Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. “While we need to expand these data to further prospective studies for validation, this new research marks an important step towards potentially expanding the role of liquid biopsy -- particularly enumeration of CTCs and molecular analysis for accurate and real-time prediction and prognostic monitoring the metastatic process.”

Dr. Cristofanilli co-authored all three CELLSEARCH studies being presented at SABCS**.

CELLSEARCH is the first and only clinically validated blood test cleared by the FDA for detecting and enumerating CTCs as an aid for physicians to manage patients with metastatic breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. The test is also approved by the Chinese National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for use as an aid in monitoring metastatic breast cancer patients.

“There is a large body of research supporting the longstanding value of CTCs, which is one of the reasons many physicians are using CELLSEARCH in their clinics,” said Fabio Piazzalunga, President and CEO of Menarini Silicon Biosystems, Inc. “Studies like these help to increase understanding of the value of liquid biopsy and CTC enumeration and play an important role in advancing precision medicine for metastatic breast cancer.”

Poster Presentation Details:

Poster Session 3 - Thursday December 12, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Hall 1

Title: Liquid biopsy methods and machine learning modeling to understand organ tropism and metastization behavior of metastatic breast cancer - P3-01-05
Authors: Gerratana L et al, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; IRCCS CRO Aviano National Cancer Institute, Aviano, Italy.

Poster Session 4 – Friday December 13, 7:00 am – 9:00 am, Hall 1

Title: Clinical relevance of CK+/CD45+, dual-positive circulating cells (DPCells) in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) - P4-01-07
Authors: Reduzzi et al, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.

Title: Anatomical staging and value of CTCs in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) and metastatic breast cancer (MBC) - P4-01-08
Authors: Zhang Q et al, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Department of Pathology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.

The CELLSEARCH System is the most extensively studied CTC technology, with research published in more than 650 peer-reviewed publications. Providing valuable information to help physicians make patient-management decisions along with other clinical monitoring methods, the CELLSEARCH CTC test is performed at a reference laboratory using the CELLSEARCH System. The testing can be used throughout a given therapy for metastatic breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer to monitor a patient’s status by showing if their prognosis is favorable.

To learn more about the CELLSEARCH System, SABCS attendees can visit Menarini Silicon Biosystems at Booth #909.
SABCS will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 10-14, 2019.

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. The company’s CELLSEARCH®* and DEPArray™ technologies together provide an end-to-end solution** for enumeration and sorting of rare cells with single-cell precision.
Menarini Silicon Biosystems, based in Bologna, Italy, and Huntingdon Valley, PA, US, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group, a multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics company headquartered in Florence, Italy, with 17,640 employees in 136 countries.
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*For more information on the full intended use and limitations of CELLSEARCH system, please refer to the Instructions for Use at http://documents.cellsearchctc.com/.
** The workflow described is for research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. The performance characteristics and safety and effectiveness of the workflow have not been established and are not cleared or approved by the FDA.