Better Classification of Prostate Cancer Tissue Biopsy Samples Enabled by Pressure BioSciences’ PCT Platform
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Pressure BioSciences a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure cycling technology (“PCT”)-based sample preparation solutions to the worldwide life sciences industry, today announced that Tiannan Guo, MD Ph.D. of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, presented data on an improved method for the proteomic profiling and classification of prostate cancer tissue biopsy samples at the recent annual conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
Dr. Guo and colleagues combined the Company’s enhanced Barocycler NEP2320 instrument andMicroPestle consumable (“PCT-HD”) with AB Sciex’s SWATH-MS mass spectrometric system(together, “PCT-SWATH”) to permit what they characterize as the high throughput, reproducible,quantitative profiling of proteins in biopsy tissues. The authors concluded that PCT-SWATH (i)separated previously histologically-indistinguishable tissue biopsy samples, and (ii) identified newprotein biomarker candidates for more precise classification of prostate cancer. The authors indicatedtheir results await further validation in independent studies.
Dr. Nate Lawrence, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for PBI, said: “Patients with prostate cancer are generally classified into three groups based on histological results: low-grade, intermediate-grade, and high-grade. Patients in the intermediate-grade group most often have mixed clinical outcomes. Consequently, prostate cancer patients in this group need to be better profiled and differentiated. This should enable more precise classification, which should then lead to better prognosis and treatment. Unfortunately, the authors believe that better classification is not achievable with established diagnosticprocedures.”
Dr. Lawrence continued: “Using PCT-SWATH, the investigators obtained a level of reproducibility and quantitative accuracy comparable to SRM, the “gold standard” quantitative mass spectrometric method. However, unlike SRM, which often results in the maximal quantification of a few hundred proteins per sample, PCT-SWATH resulted in the quantification of thousands of proteins, with unprecedented speed and precision, thus offering the potential for better classification of prostate cancer patients.”
Mr. Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO of PBI, stated: “According to the American CancerSociety (“ACS”), prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause ofcancer death in American men. In 2015, the ACS estimates there will be approximately 220,800 newcases of prostate cancer, with about 27,540 deaths. Current statistics indicate that about one man in thirty eight will die of prostate cancer. Consequently, laboratory tools that can better diagnose and correctly classify the grade of prostate cancer are vitally needed. We are pleased that one of the top Key Opinion Leader laboratories in the world has adopted PCT as a routine method for mass spectrometry sample preparation. We are further pleased that they believe PCT-SWATH offers the potential for wide applications in personalized medicine and that this method may ultimately achieve adoption in the clinical laboratory setting.”
