It was very interesting to hear Professor Stig Linder at the AroCell Strategy Update. Firstly, it was reassuring that Professor Linder clearly declared that the AroCell sTK1 concentration methology was superior to sTK activity measurements (allthough this is, of course, no surprise for us who follow AroCell). Also interesting was that a relevance in the area of early detection was adressed by Professor Linder.
Also very interesting was Professor Linders deep knowledge and interest in cytokeratins, and the use of cytokeratins to evaluate cell death by measurements in blood. In fact, some background research seems to reveal connections pointing back in time many years, and may also be logically in line with the important work by Professor Bernhard Tribukait on the application of sTK1p in the neoadjuvant setting.
As a starting point, information in the following link tells that it was Stig Linders researchgroup which introduced the important M30 and M65 cytokeratin antibodies which are used to measure cell death. https://ki.se/forskning/utvecklar-nya-cancerlakemedel
These important tests (M30 and M65) are now sold in the US by Diapharma. M30 Apoptosense - Diapharma
Diapharma and AroCell signs partnership in 2019. AroCell tecknar ett nytt distributörsavtal i USA och Kanada | Arocell TK 210 ELISA
Stig Linders researchgroup seems to early on have commercialized the M30 and M65 tests through the Swedish diagnostic company PEVIVA - which later became part of VLV Bio. Peviva - Diapharma
AroCells Chief Scientific Officer, Maria Hägg Olofsson, was previously employed at VLV BIO and has been co-author together with Stig Linder in several sceintific publications on cytokeratins. Management - AroCell
As an example, the following article from 2010 (by Stig Linder, co-author Maria Hägg Olofsson) seems to specifically search for a biomarker that could complement cytokeratins by measuring proliferation - and sTK1p may be a very good fit in this respect. Quote from article (published 2010):
“The most important question perhaps is whether the parameter induction of cell death is expected to show a strong correlation to tumor response. Tumor response will depend on whether cell death induced by a drug will balance tumor proliferation between therapy cycles. /…/ Whether it will be possible to obtain more accurate estimations of response by determining both cell death and cell proliferation in tumors is unclear, but this is an interesting possibility.” (article by Stig Linder, 2010) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43048898_Utilization_of_cytokeratin-based_biomarkers_for_pharmacodynamic_studies
And the above article also conclude that these possibilities, mentioned above, may be of particularly importance in the adjuvant setting:
“Perhaps the most exciting possibility is the potential to trace tumor cell death in patients treated in the adjuvant situation. The treatment of this large group of patients can be significantly improved upon through information on whether the treatment does, in fact, induce tumor cell death.”
And this last qoute above, may be logically connected to Bernhard Tribukaits important work recent years on sTK1p in the neoadjuvant settings.
So, it seems as if all may fit together rather nicely… that a potential in the combination of cytokeratins and TK1 may have been identified early on - and if so it may follow that the merger between AroCell and IDL have been “work in progress” for a long time, many years? Maybe duscussions started as early as 2015? Who knows which strategic decisions are being made, and when…
