Menarini Silicon Biosystems, Bologna, Italy, and Huntingdon Valley, Pa, a pioneer in liquid biopsy technology, has introduced a semiautomated assay workflow utilizing the company’s CellSearch and DepArray platforms to enumerate and characterize circulating multiple myeloma cells from peripheral blood samples.
Preliminary study data suggest that the ability to obtain circulating multiple myeloma cells via liquid biopsy may enable clinical researchers to better understand tumor biology, particularly in early-stage disease. In addition, the assay workflow could offer a less-invasive alternative to more expensive and painful bone marrow biopsy.
Bob Roda, Menarini Silicon Biosystems.
“The combined capabilities of CellSearch together with our DepArray system enhance our ability to enable meaningful advances in the field of personalized medicine,” says Bob Roda, president and CEO of Menarini Silicon Biosystems. “We are advancing our technologies in order to help clinicians and researchers deepen their understanding of tumor progression.”
Company studies are also reporting on the importance of obtaining pure cell populations for comprehensive molecular analysis. The company’s DepArray FFPE SamplePrep kit can be used for the disaggregation and staining of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections down to a single-cell suspension. The kit streamlines FFPE analysis by assembling all necessary reagents and providing a standardized protocol that is optimized for the DepArray system. The kit offers a reduction in sample preparation time, while also reducing user variability in obtaining 100% pure tumor cell populations, which can improve downstream molecular analysis.
“We’re committed to working in partnership with those in the personalized medicine field and giving them the solutions that will help quicken the pace of discovery,” says Roda.
CellSearch is the first clinically validated blood test cleared by FDA for detecting and enumerating circulating tumor cells as an aid to physicians in managing patients with metastatic breast, colorectal, or prostate cancers. The DepArray system is the first technology to combine microfluidics with microelectronics and microscopy to isolate and manipulate individual cells for research use. It is the only image-based sorting and isolation platform that enables clinical researchers to facilitate molecular analyses on live or fixed cells with single-cell precision. The assay is currently available as a laboratory service at Menarini Silicon Biosystems.
For further information, visit Menarini Silicon Biosystems.
