Advantages of maintrac over other cell count methods
Advantages of maintrac over other cell count methods
Scientifically tested and validated: There have been 13 clinical trials with an additional five underway that have been published in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals, several with over 600 patients. There are over 70 publications (including posters and talks) on maintrac explaining and validating the science behind the methodology.
Clinical relevance: Clinical relevance has been established through more than 15 years of data collection and over 100 publications in oncology journals. The methodology is regularly presented at major oncology conferences in Europe (European Society for Medical Oncology) and the USA (e.g., the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium).
Accuracy:maintrac methodology has the highest sensitivity for detecting potential circulating tumour cells as it does not engage in isolation/enrichment techniques, allowing all relevant cells to be measured. Magnetic separation for example, in the CellSearch method, may lead to an extensive loss of specific cells, as supported by various reports (e.g., Coumans et al. 2010). [Pachmann, O. Camara, T. Kroll, M. Gajda, A. K. Gellner, J. Wotschadlo and I. B. Runnebaum, Efficacy Control of Therapy Using Circulating Epithelial Tumor Cells (CETC) as Liquid Biopsy: Trastuzumab in HER2/neuPositive Breast Carcinoma, Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, Vol. 137, No. 9, 2011, pp. 1317-132 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4a8d/e5c0389072dfac16b2eb599426b9d3ec208d.pdf?_ga=1.210075541.1214948261.1493274383.] Enrichment requires sufficiently high expression of the EpCAM molecule for cell capture, which may lead to huge losses of the respective cells. [Z. Panteleakou, P. Lembessis, A. Sourla, N. Pissimissis, A. Polyzos, C. Deliveliotis and M. Koutsilieris, Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Prostate Cancer Patients: Methodological Pitfalls and Clinical Relevance, Molecular Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 3-4, 2009, pp. 101-114. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.222.7075&rep=rep1&type=pdf]
Testing of treatment substances (chemotherapy and natural): Testing of different treatment substances is done only on live CTCs and measures the rate of apoptosis for any substance requested. Studies of the chemo-sensitivity tests with the Maintrac method have been published clearly showing the correlation of the in-vitro tests with the patients actual progress over years.
Flexibility: Testing of any single, multiple or combined treatment substances can be done. Practitioners can also send the exact agent to be used for tested for greater accuracy. As there will be variations between different brands this will give a more exact result. (Important however is that the agent has an apoptotic effect as it is this that is measured, not immune stimulation.)
Economic: Testing of circulating cancer cells is far cheaper than other testing on the market, and so is a viable means of tracking progress.
Fully accredited: The laboratory and maintrac testing system is EU accredited with the official German accreditation body Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS) according to DIN EN ISO 15 189.
Ongoing academic research/partnerships: The laboratory cooperates closely with the University of Heidelberg as well as other universities, and scientific articles and studies with universities and other scientific bodies are constantly being conducted/written.
EU recognition: The scientific umbrella for the maintrac platform SIMFO GmbH (Special Immunological Research and Development) has been invited to present its Liquid Biopsy at the BIO International Convention in June 2017 at the European Commission, having been recognised as one of the 15 most innovative European companies. [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/simfo-gmbh-presents-maintrac-liquid-biopsy-bio-2017-peter-pachmann]
Stem cell measurement: The maintac system can measure stem cells (“spheroid cells”). These are the cells that really matter – the ones that cause metastasis.
Support: A support service is available with training on how maintrac works, and free-of-charge consultations can be arranged with the laboratory specialists who have actually developed this test and are fully conversant with it.
Training and transparency. Courses are available to explain exactly how the technique is conducted, how best to select assays, and how to interpret and position the results.
