Renal injury can sometimes be induced by drugs. Some examples of renal damage-inducing drugs include some widespread treatments, such as ß-Lactam antibiotics, bisphosphonates, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, diuretics, aminoglycoside antibiotics, antineoplastic agents and radiocontrast agents.

Since 2008, both the FDA and the EMEA indicated that additional tests may be necessary to assess new drug safety and prevent from renal toxicity. Though these recommendations are voluntary, many pharmaceutical companies have started gathering data on nephrotoxicity biomarkers.

The role of the interactions between tumor cells and their microenvironment (TME) is now well-established in various stages of cancer development. Cytokines, produced by both the cancer and the immune cells, actively contribute to these critical connections (see the previous posts related to the crosstalk between cancer and immune cells in relation to tumor escape, immunoediting and immunosurveillance).

In a recent review published in BBA, RayBiotech‘s team highlights the “cytokine signatures and dynamics” seen during cancer development. They also demonstrate the necessity of designing relevant multiplex immunoassays for the profiling and the quantification of cytokines in biomarker and anti-cancer drug discovery programs.

Source:
Valerie Sloane Jones, Ren-Yu Huang, Li-Pai Chen, Zhe-Sheng Chen, Liwu Fu, Ruo-Pan Huang “Cytokines in cancer drug resistance: Cues to new therapeutic strategies” (2016) Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Volume 1865, Issue 2, 255–265. DOI:10.1016/j.bbcan.2016.03.005.

Download the publication written by RayBiotech, the leader in planar Antibody Arrays.

In a previous post, we looked at the importance of sample preparation methods depending on the biomarker being studied (e.g. MMPs, cytokines). Today, let’s focus on cell / tissue lysates.

A crosstalk between cancer and immune cells is established during cancers. The immune system is able to fight against tumour cells (see my previous post “Immunosurveillance: Crosstalk between cancer and immune cells”). But what happens when immunosurveillance fails?

This is the subject of this new post. A selection of validated immunoassays allowing you to monitor cytokines and signal transduction biomarkers involved in these “loops” is also introduced.