–  Data demonstrating novel platform to measure protease activity accurately differentiates patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vs. patients with liver cirrhosis without HCC, alone or in combination with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) biomarker blood test 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Glympse, a biotechnology company developing revolutionary technology to diagnose and monitor disease, today announced that it will present a poster demonstrating that its novel protease biosensor diagnostic platform can detect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2022, being held in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 4-8, 2022.  

The incidence of HCC is rising and is projected to continue this trend through 2030. Current methods of HCC surveillance, including ultrasound and/or the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) biomarker blood test, fail to identify over one-third of early-stage HCC cases. Glympse recently presented early data demonstrating that its panel of novel, non-invasive biosensors, which measure protease activity from a blood sample, was able to differentiate patients with HCC from healthy controls (AUC > 0.94) and from cirrhosis patients without HCC (AUC = 0.93).  

At AASLD, Glympse will present a poster evaluating its biosensor panel in comparison to the AFP blood test in samples from 54 patients with HCC and 23 patients with liver cirrhosis but without HCC. The Glympse assay detected HCC in 22 of 30 patients with AFP levels below 20 ng/mL, suggesting the potential diagnosis of HCC patients in whom AFP is not diagnostic. In combination, the Glympse assay and AFP biomarker test (AFP ≥ 20 ng/mL) demonstrated an AUC = 0.90 in differentiating HCC and cirrhosis patients.   

“Innovative, early HCC detection techniques are urgently needed,” said Amit Singal, M.D., Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Program and Clinical Chief of Hepatology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “These data demonstrate that a novel approach for HCC detection like measuring protease activity may add to our future resources for surveillance.”  

“These encouraging data demonstrate that the Glympse protease activity assay may accurately be able to detect HCC in patients, even if commonly used markers are negative. This highlights its potential as an invaluable surveillance tool,” said Tram Tran, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Glympse. “As HCC case numbers continue to grow, early detection is essential to our ability to combat this disease. We look forward to presenting this data at AASLD and engaging with the scientific community about this important research.” 

Information regarding the poster presentation can be found below.  

Title: Accurate diagnosis of HCC in cirrhotic patients with a novel protease assay compared to standard AFP 

Presented By: Tram Tran, M.D.  

Time/Date: Monday, Nov. 7, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST  

Abstract #: 4415