Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.

Epic Sciences, Inc.

Ryan Dittamore

Michael Otter

Gary A Pestano

Dena Marrinucci

Karl Eric Garsha

Chol Steven Yun

Ray B Nagle

Alexandra Dea Nagy

Connie Cortez

Karl Garsha

Ubaradka Sathyanarayana

The present invention describes a method for detecting castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in a patient afflicted with prostate cancer comprising (a) performing a direct analysis comprising immunofluorescent staining and morphological characterization of nucleated cells in a blood sample obtained from the patient to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC), (b) determining prevalence of a CTC subpopulation associated with CRPC comprising detecting a measurable feature of each biomarker in a panel of morphological and protein biomarkers, and (c) comparing the prevalence of said CTC subpopulation to a predetermined threshold value, wherein the prevalence of the CTC subpopulation associated with CRPC above said predetermined threshold value is indicative of CRPC. In some embodiments, the CTC subpopulation associated with CRPC comprises CK&#x2212; CTCs. In some embodiments, the CTC subpopulation associated with CRPC comprises small CTCs. In additional embodiments, the methods of the invention further comprise molecular analysis of the CTCs.

Circulating tumor cell diagnostics for prostate cancer biomarkers

The disclosure provides methods for automated characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), for example using automated tissue strainers. In specific examples, such methods permit characterizing a prostate cancer sample by simultaneously or contemporaneously detecting ERG rearrangements and PTEN deletions in the same CTC. Also provided are kits that can be used with such methods.

Automated analysis of circulating tumor cells

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Ryan Dittamore