NEW YORK – Tethis on Monday said it has partnered with Sheba Medical Center in Israel to evaluate its artificial intelligence-driven technology in a clinical study, in which they plan to measure circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients with rectal cancer.
Within this collaboration, Tethis' See.d instrument will be installed at Sheba's Institute of Pathology. See.d, when used with Tethis' proprietary nanocoated SmartBioSurface slides, provides a standardized workflow for preparation of cytology specimens containing immune and tumor cells and captures plasma for cell-free DNA analysis. According to Tethis, its instrument can also retrieve the entire population of nucleated cells, inflammatory cells, histocytes, and CTCs from the bloodstream, allowing detection of CTC clusters and single cells within the cellular microenvironment. See.d and SmartBioSurface slides are available only for research use and are not intended for diagnostic purposes, according to the company.
In the study with Sheba, researchers will use Milan-based Tethis' SmartBioSurface slides and See.d platform to process patients' blood samples for CTC and ctDNA analysis before they receive neoadjuvant therapy and at multiple time points during and after therapy. The main goal of the study is to explore whether researchers can use CTCs plus ctDNA as a surrogate marker to detect relapse sooner than they can with conventional imaging.
"The analysis of the cytology specimens using bright field multi-staining immunohistochemistry and AI-powered algorithms builds upon our successful proof-of-concept studies with model cells, advancing the field of digital cytology in liquid biopsy applications," Nadia Prisant, head of the liquid biopsy laboratory at Sheba, said in a statement. "The ability to prepare high-quality cytology slides at the point of blood collection may provide valuable insights into disease progression and help guide treatment decisions for our patients."
Tethis landed a €15 million ($15.4 million on Jan. 14) investment earlier this year to accelerate development of its platform. In September 2024, it teamed up with Weill Cornell Medicine to analyze blood samples from patients with early-stage breast cancer using the See.d platform.