In this post, I’d like to introduce the Human liver Lysosomes developed by Sekisui-Xenotech, which have opened up a new era in catabolism models. Read on to learn more, and also to download a case study demonstrating the use of lysosomes for catabolism of human IgG.

Pooled human hepatocytes are a preferred test system in many drug discovery and development applications requiring intact cellular systems for in vitro testing. Intact hepatocytes contain the major hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes and co-factors required to effectively evaluate the metabolism and potential drug-drug interactions of drug candidates.

Over the last decade, improvements in cryopreservation technologies have made using cryopreserved human hepatocytes more convenient. Pooled cryopreserved hepatocytes reduce the inter-individual differences and polymorphic distribution of liver enzymes. However, it’s crucial to carefully select a pool according to its performance but also the application it is to be used for.

Very often primary cell cultures are jeopardized by the outgrowth of contaminating fibroblasts.  The population of the target primary cells is directly affected since fibroblasts usually grow at much faster rates than other cell types.

Tumour modelling facilitates the study of tumour growth in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Therapies that affect the tumour microenvironment are critical for advancing the fight against cancer as emerging therapies target the network of signaling pathways essential for tumour growth, Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition and metastasis (ex. Wnt/ß-Catenin pathway). Patient derived tumour models, including melanoma cell lines, are invaluable tools to study normal and malignant cells, tumour formation and drug resistance.

Rockland Immunochemicals Inc. has partnered with the Wistar Research Institute, to produce and validate a diverse panel of low passage melanoma cell lines from freshly excised metastases. More than 100 melanoma cell lines are grouped for BRAF, N-RAS, KIT, PTEN and CDK4 mutations.  These pre-clinical tumour cell lines models can be used to identify the critical target genes and pathways enacted by genomic alterations and lead to more accurately prediction of the effectiveness of novel cancer therapeutics and facilitate cancer research.