Capping is a required protection in 5′ of the mRNA that is necessary for biological activity and stability into the cells. There are already several methods of capping using mCap, ARCA or enzymatic methods. Unfortunately, they are limited in efficiency (such as mCap and ARCA), and can be costly (such as the enzymatic methods). Trilink Biotechnologies, the modified nucleic acid experts, have developped a new, far more efficient technology called CleanCap available in Europe via tebu-bio.

Vector-free CRISPR-CAS9 gene editing to accelerate therapeutic applications

A few years ago, Ayal Hendel et al (doi:10.1038/nbt.3290) published results revealing that chemical alterations to sgRNA enhance gene editing in primary cells. To demonstrate this, Matthew H Porteus’s team chose the targeted genes CCR5, HBB and IL2RG respectively involved in anti-HIV clinical trials, cell anaemia and thalassemia, and severe combined immunodeficiency. More recently, the same team tested several modified CAS9 mRNA. You can find the practical results on this poster introduced at the ASGC.

PD-1:PD:-L1 immune checkpoint pathway targeting immunotherapies have shown great potential for many cancer patients. Recently, The FDA has granted accelerated approval to the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda® – humanized monoclonal IgG4 antibody against human cell surface receptor PD-1) for use in some patients with advanced gastric stomach cancer (see NIH-NCI news). However, response to these treatments is not guaranteed for each patient. With the complexity of the immune system and tumour microenvironment, providing more physiological outcomes for immunotherapies is necessary. Biochemical assays alone cannot consider the functionality of the whole cell signalling pathway. Complementing them with cell-based assays provides a comprehensive approach for identifying and developing new and improved immunotherapy treatments. Cellular line engineering has simplified and accelerated the development of such immunoassays. Targets have been chosen from both immune activators and suppressors with the aim of obtaining precise control of the immune system.

BPS Bioscience have engineered 6 cellular lines, turning them into cell-based reporter assays for Human Immune Checkpoint research.  I’d like to present a summary of how each cellular line functions.

Use of validated antibodies is primordial for Breast Cancer research and related biomarker discovery. Here, we’ll review the main biomarkers involved in this disease and introduce the most popular validated primary antibodies used by our clients.