BASEL, Switzerland — October 16, 2025 — Leads & Copy — A new study published in Nature Medicine links circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters to vascular occlusions in cancer patients, suggesting vascular failure as a cause of death. The study, conducted by Prof. Nicola Aceto’s team at ETH Zurich in collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, supports the development of cancer therapies targeting cell-cell adhesion in cancer cells.
The study, based on a prospective cohort of 21 cancer patients and 10 controls, plus a retrospective validation cohort of 1,250 patients with cancer, found spikes of CTCs, particularly large clusters, in cancer patients shortly before death, followed by large vessel occlusions. Radiological evidence of macrovascular infiltration was the strongest predictor of poor survival in the validation cohort.
Page Therapeutics is developing compounds to disrupt cell-cell adhesion in cancer cells, suppressing cell proliferation and CTC cluster formation, which may delay life-threatening infiltrations of clusters into large vessels.
According to Prof. Aceto, investigator of the study and co-founder of Page Therapeutics, the new compounds have shown strong preclinical evidence of a survival benefit even in aggressive models where metastases were already seeded. The company aims to move its lead candidate to the clinic in the near future.
Page Therapeutics AG is a Swiss preclinical-stage biotechnology company spun out of ETH Zurich. The company is developing novel therapies targeting cell–cell adhesion in cancer, aiming to suppress tumor proliferation, prevent disease spread, and improve overall survival across solid-tumour indications.
Contact:
Prof. Nicola Aceto, co-founder of Page Therapeutics.
Source: Page Therapeutics AG
