Once again, a new product is launched this week for cancer researchers: RayBio® Cancer Autoantibody Protein Arrays. These arrays are semi-quantitative multiplex protein immunoassays developed for the detection of Cancer related autoantibodies. [Read more…]
Proteomic profiling tools for your neurobiology studies!
First at all, a quick reminder… Cytokines play important roles in inflammation, innate immunity, angiogenesis and cell growth. They are involved in a lot of disease processes like cancer, obesity and inflammatory and neurobiological diseases.
The RayBio® Membrane-Based Antibody Arrays (C-Series) are tools for screening and comparing expression levels of many cytokines, growth factors, proteases, soluble receptors, and other proteins in a wide variety of sample type.
After these brief definitions, today I would like to introduce you to a new tool allowing multiple cytokine detection. RayBio C-series Neurobiological Discovery Arrays will help you to measure several factors in inflammation, immunology. This method is very popular and can be used for two species: human and mouse.
miRNAs: potent biomarkers in cancer research?
Expression signals of validated miRNAs that differentiated pancreato-biliary cancer from non-malignant abnormalities (A), or from cancers of other types (B).
A recent paper by Kojima, M. et al. has found a signature of miRNAs to identify patients with pancreato-biliary cancers who could benefit from surgical intervention.
Namely, a combination of eight miRNAs (miR-6075, miR-4294, miR-6880-5p, miR-6799-5p, miR-125a-3p, miR-4530, miR-6836-3p, and miR-4476) achieved a sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and AUC of 80.3%, 97.6%, 91.6% and 0.953, respectively.
In contrast, CA19-9 and CEA gave sensitivities of 65.6% and 40.0%, specificities of 92.9% and 88.6%, and accuracies of 82.1% and 71.8%, respectively, in the same test cohort. This diagnostic index identified 18/21 operable pancreatic cancers and 38/48 operable biliary-tract cancers in the entire cohort. [Read more…]
Cytokine signature in airway inflammation with arrays
Chronic Mucosal Inflammation is the hallmark of common airway diseases (ex. Allergic Rhinitis and asthma). Lipoxin B4(LXB4) is an endogenous mucosal protective mediator decreasing such diseases. LXB4 mechanisms of action remain poorly understood.
Cytokine Quantibody Arrays from Raybiotech and tebu-bio laboratories.
In a recent paper in Mucosal Immunology (Karra, L. et al. (2015) 8; DOI:10.1038/mi.2014.116), Allergic Rhinitis and asthma murine models have been described to better investigate the role of LXB4 in Mucosal Inflammation. The authors conclude that, in the upper airway, LXB4 significantly decreases nasal mucosal leukocytes and degranulation of Mast Cells (MCs) and Eosinophils. They also show that, in the lower airway, LXB4 significantly decreased airway inflammation, mucus metaplasia, and hyper-responsiveness. [Read more…]
More data with chemiluminescence imaging platform
Quansys Q-View Imager Pro. Source: tebu-bio.
Depending on the phase where your biomarker-related research program is, imaging of protein or antibody arrays has different requirements. For R&D purposes (incl. translational and preclinical ones), a standard imager is more than enough. However, for clinical assays at the late stages, a higher resolution may be needed, especially in view of a future file submission.
Known for the development of the Q-plex platform, which is being used by translational and clinical laboratories worldwide (e.g. to detect Pneumococcus), Quansys has released a new imager, designed for higher throughput (96- and 384-well plates) and clinical-grade research. [Read more…]
Identification of a MicroRNA signature for Fibromyalgia diagnosis
Heatmap of PBMCs miRNome from FM patients and controls. The microarray analysis was performed with Toray’s 3D-Gene Human miRNA Oligo chips (v.16.0; current version is v21.0). Patient samples are labeled (FM 1–11) and controls (C 1–10). Color palette is included to indicate signal intensity.
A recent paper by Cerdá-Olmedo, G. et al. unravels the miRNA signature in fibromyalgia (FM). Diagnosis of FM, a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome characterised by generalized body pain, hyperalgesia and other functional and emotional comorbidities, is a challenging process hindered by symptom heterogeneity and clinical overlap with other disorders. No objective diagnostic method exists at present.
This study aimed at identifying changes in miRNA expression profiles (miRNome) of FM patients for the development of a quantitative diagnostic method of FM. In addition, knowledge of FM patient miRNomes would lead to a deeper understanding of the etiology and/or symptom severity of this complex disease.
A broad profiling was first performed using Toray’s technology. miRNAs found were validated by qPCR in a later step. The profiling of FM patients PBMCs showed a marked downregulation of hsa-miR223-3p, hsa-miR451a, hsa-miR338-3p, hsa-miR143-3p, hsa-miR145-5p and hsa-miR-21-5p (4-fold or more).
Globally, 20% of the miRNAs analyzed (233/1212) showed downregulation of at least 2-fold in patients. This might indicate a general de-regulation of the miRNA synthetic pathway in FM. No significant correlations between miRNA inhibition and FM cardinal symptoms could be identified. However, the patient with the lowest score for mental fatigue coincided with the mildest inhibition in four of the five miRNAs associated with the FM-group.
Therefore, the authors propose a signature of five strikingly downregulated miRNAs (hsa-miR223-3p, hsa-miR451a, hsa-miR338-3p, hsa-miR143-3p and hsa-miR145-5p) to be used as biomarkers of FM. Validation in larger study groups would be required before the results can be transferred to the clinic, as the authors indicate.
Looking for miRNA signatures? Don’t hesitate to leave your comments below!
miRNAs and Autoimmune Glomerulonephritis
Correlation of findings in animal models (e.g. mouse) and its validation in human samples lies at the basis of Translational medicine. Nowadays, hypothesis established in mouse models must, at some stage, be validated in a cohort of patients. [Read more…]
Which approach for measuring circulating cell-free miRNAs?
More than 2,500 human miRNAs are potentially significant biomarkers. Moreover, the use of blood circulating miRNAs as disease-specific biomarkers is one of the most valuable outputs for translational and clinical research. Nevertheless, such an analysis still requires the selection of robust technologies, huge R&D work and reproducibility studies.
During the latest AACR Meeting (April 2015, Philadelphia – USA), Nadia Normand, R&D manager at tebu-bio’s laboratories (Le Perray en Yvelines, France), presented a poster comparing various platforms for measuring circulating miRNAs. It was the opportunity to further demonstrate the robustness of the miRNA 3D-Gene® microarray-based platform (Toray Industries).
To know more about the comparison, follow this link to access to the poster:
Tumour microenvironment – glycosylation
Cancer research is increasingly focusing on the tumour microenvironment (TME). Several studies have shown that tumours depend on external signals for maintenance and expansion. It is therefore needed to have a deeper knowledge of the cross-talk between tumour cells in the stroma (fibroblasts, adipocytes, endothelial cells and macrophages) and their microenvironment which also includes the study of interactions between cancer cells and cancer stem cells. TME studies also involve soluble factors, signaling molecules, extracellular matrix proteins (ECM) and other factors that help the tumour grow and invade other tissues, protect it from the host immune system, and contributes to therapeutic resistance in some cases (1). In a previous post, we discussed the role of Cox-2 signaling and PGE2 in TME. Also, we have already discussed the role of inflammation and the modification of the host’s immune response by cancer cells.
Today, we would like to focus on how TME affects the glycosylation of proteins involved in tumour progression.
Interactions between cancer and immune cells via cytokine networks
Pr. Ruo-Pan Huang’s team has just published a review detailing the interactions between cancer and immune cells.
This overview describes the key cytokine signals, cell–cell signal networks in the tumor microenvironment during cancer diseases. It also demonstrates the power of antibody arrays and multiplex immunoassays as unique research tools to decipher cytokine networks during cancer and inflammation processes.
Source:
Brett Burkholder et al. “Tumor-induced perturbations of cytokines and immune cell networks” (2014) BBA – Reviews on Cancer, Vol. 1845 no. 2, 182–201. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbcan.2014.01.004