LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chronix Biomedical announced that it has filed a provisional patent application for the precise measurement of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma using Digital PCR technology as a way to monitor the medical status of patients with transplanted organs or cancer through a liquid biopsy. Digital PCR is a new approach to cfDNA detection and quantification because it directly counts the number of target cfDNA molecules rather than comparing results to reference standards. The challenges associated with this approach relate to the difficulty to standardize cfDNA measurements due to low concentrations and the variable fragment sizes of cfDNA. Today, Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Schuetz (FACB), Chief Technology Officer of Chronix Biomedical, is a plenary speaker at the Digital PCR conference being held from October 6 to 8 in La Jolla, CA, USA and will show results from a new proprietary methodology that improves the Digital PCR quantification of cfDNA in his presentation entitled "Diagnostic Use of Digital PCR for Liquid Biopsy."
The Chronix Liquid Biopsy tests provide the earliest detection system for organ rejection in patients receiving an organ transplant and, in cancer patients, provides for the earliest determination of treatment effectiveness while monitoring for recurrence.
"Liquid biopsy is an upcoming medical diagnostics tool, which describes the detection of pathologic events, such as cancer progress, organ transplantation rejection and graft injury through blood testing. Digital PCR is particularly suited to fulfill the needs of precision and reliability, enabling an unprecedented diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. This allows more detailed monitoring of patients at reasonable costs, which lowers the burden of disease, with health economic implications by earlier intervention options," said Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Schuetz.
Chronix Biomedical Senior Scientist and study co-author Dr. Julia Beck said, “Our experience with over 36,000 unique Digital PCR reactions to date has allowed us to design standardization protocols to be able to consistently quantify trace amounts of cfDNA in the blood of patients with cancer or organ transplants.”
Professor Michael Oellerich, M.D., FACB, FRCPath and Lower Saxony Distinguished Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the University Medical Center Göttingen and Chronix Biomedical Medical Advisor, added, “The precise quantification of cfDNA for monitoring disease processes is a fascinating and new high-precision approach for a real-time view on graft health and a tool for molecular monitoring of response and relapse in oncology.”
About Chronix Biomedical
Chronix Biomedical is a molecular diagnostics company developing tests for cancer and organ transplant integrity, including a cancer mutation panel and liquid biopsies for cancer. Chronix is offering its cancer tests in Europe, UK and the Middle East and is collaborating with cancer groups world-wide to provide critical data for their research studies.
Chronix is privately held with headquarters in San Jose, California, and laboratories in Brookings, South Dakota and Göttingen, Germany. It was the first Company to use next-generation sequencing on cell-free DNA. The Company has two issued patents on the detection of cell-free DNA and RNA, and four patents pending focused on cancer mutations and their detection through liquid biopsies. In addition, the company has two patents pending for the detection of transplant organ rejection. For additional information please visit www.chronixbiomedical.com.
