LIMA (Liquid biopsies and Imaging for improved cancer care)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development and optimisation of a protocol to rapidly isolate, identify and characterise circulating tumour cells from blood using a microfluidic cell separation system designed for improved cancer care.
IRAS ID
241669
Contact name
Stefan Peter
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
ANGLE Europe Ltd
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
This work is part of a collaborative project between ANGLE, Philips and a consortium of other scientific partners based in Europe. It is funded by the EU'S Horizon 2020 programme and is focused on the use of liquid biopsies for cancer diagnosis and personalised patient treatment. Liquid biopsies have more recently been viewed as an attractive method for diagnosis and follow-up since they are less intrusive than tissue biopsies. Moreover, genomic analysis of CTCs isolated from the blood can help identify more suitable and effective patient specific treatments.
This collaborative study comprises five pillars, one of which is to be focussed on by us at ANGLE plc and involves the effective isolation and detection of cancer cells from liquid biopsies. To do this we will use an in-house developed instrument known as the Parsortix™ cell separation which has been shown to be capable of isolating cancer cells from blood. Following capture and harvesting cells can be subjected to a wide range of analytical techniques which aid in their identification and characterisation.
The main aim of this study is to optimise the currently established protocols for cell capture and analysis by the Parsortix™ system which in turn will justify it as a viable diagnostic instrument. Optimisation parameters include reduced CTC enrichment time, increased CTC capture rate, improved RNA stability. In order to accomplish this, controlled experiments using healthy normal volunteer blood samples will be required. These samples will be ‘spiked’ with a known number of cancer cells and then separated on the Parsortix™ system effectively imitating its intended purpose in clinic. We will require 250 blood collections from healthy volunteers. The blood samples will be effectively anonymised and the research team will not have access to personal information. All personal data will be kept confidential and unlinked to the project.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0196
Date of REC Opinion
26 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion