NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Fluxion Biosciences said today that it will collaborate with the Stanford University School of Medicine on developing molecular diagnostic tests to identify circulating tumor cells.
The South San Francisco, Calif.-based firm said that Stanford researchers are using its IsoFlux System to "isolate, recover, and analyze rare circulating cancer cells at the molecular level." It expects the collaboration will yield tests that enable the delivery of more effective therapies for cancer patients. The initial focus of the collaboration is prostate and kidney cancer.
Fluxion's IsoFlux can be used in performing a liquid biopsy to collect the CTCs. The cells can then be analyzed by next-generation sequencing for cancer mutational profiling.
"Cancer is a dynamic disease, and the ability to track changes in each patient via a blood sample can allow actionable changes to be detected much earlier," Fluxion Chief Technology Officer Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti said in a statement. "One aim of the collaboration is to identify markers that can help stratify patients requiring more aggressive treatment from those that don't. This is currently a major challenge in the treatment of prostate cancer."