New data published on PointMan™ molecular diagnostic technology

EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (AIM: EKF), the AIM-listed point-of-care, central laboratory, and molecular diagnostics business, announces that two research posters supporting its PointMan™ molecular diagnostic technology have been delivered at key conferences.

On 8th September at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer meeting in Denver, USA, Luecke et al. from GILUPI GmbH and EKF Molecular presented a poster titled: An effective in vivo Liquid Biopsy tool for high yield isolation of circulating tumor cells. The researchers used EKF’s PointMan™ KRAS DNA enrichment technology to analyse circulating tumour cells from blood samples taken from lung cancer patients using the GILUPI CellCollector®. The team concluded that the combination overcomes blood volume limitations of other CTC extraction approaches, and mutations in isolated CTC DNA can be analysed using the PointMan™ technology. The Gilupi device allows CTC enumeration, molecular characterisation, and biomarker expression analysis, which could help guide treatment strategies and monitor therapy efficacy.

PointMan™ was also featured in a poster at the 9th Circulating Nucleic Acid in Plasma and Serum meeting in Berlin, where Kimura et al. from the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kanazawa University Hospital, Japan, presented data on T790M DNA enrichment of specimens from a cohort of 52 lung cancer patients. T790M is an essential biomarker as its presence indicates that patients are becoming resistant to the drug regimen that is being used in the treatment of their late-stage lung cancer. Being able to accurately, rapidly, cost-effectively, and non-invasively detect EGFR T790M early will inform clinicians that a change in treatment is required. This poster expands on work previously presented at AACR in April. The PointMan™ assay is a valuable and rapid technique for detecting T790M in circulating DNA.

Julian Baines, CEO of EKF Diagnostics, said: “These posters presented at two of the world’s most prestigious meetings of researchers and clinicians treating lung cancer confirm the utility of PointMan™ and its key role in the molecular analysis of circulating tumor cells and cancer DNA in liquid biopsies. The global incidence of lung cancer is estimated at 1.825M, of which 85% are non-small cell lung cancer, and is relevant to the benefit that using PointMan™ will offer by way of indicating more targeted and effective treatment options for clinicians treating lung cancer in the future. The increasing body of scientific data generated to support PointMan™ will be significant as we commercialise the technology following CE regulatory approval anticipated later this month.”