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. 

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.

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.

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.