NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Biocept said today that it is collaborating with the UCSD Moores Cancer Center in two new clinical studies designed to evaluate the ability of Biocept's Target Selector liquid biopsy assays to predict cancer recurrence and treatment response.
The studies, focused on individuals with breast, lung, and colon cancer, will use Biocept's technology to search for circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA, comparing results with findings from CT or PET scans. The first study will evaluate the ability of the company's tests to predict disease recurrence in patients with Stage II or III cancer who are at high risk for recurrence.
The second will look at the feasibility of using the firm's liquid biopsy technology to predict response to therapy in patients with metastatic solid tumors. Â
Razelle Kurzrock, director of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy and Clinical Trials Office at the Moores Cancer Center, said in a statement that the risk for post-surgery disease recurrence remains very high, despite the development of adjuvant treatment strategies. Moreover, because of the limitations and cost of CT imaging, there is a great need for alternative methods to identify reemerging cancers more quickly and effectively.
Biocept had already collaborated with UCSD in several other investigations of its technology, including the detection of tumor mutations and PD-L1 expression in the blood of advanced lung cancer patients.
"We are enthusiastic about working with UC San Diego Health on these clinical studies to further demonstrate the clinical utility of our … platform," Biocept President and CEO Michael Nall added. "We believe that clinical results from our technologies can provide physicians with important information to better predict a patient's response to therapy and monitor their disease progress and recurrence, which can lead to better patient outcomes."