Cytokines are a broad class of soluble proteins, glycoproteins, and peptides that act as chemical messengers of the immune system. These small proteins are essential intercellular communicators that carry messages from one cell to another and contribute to cell growth and immune response. Cytokines include chemokines, interferons, interleukins, lymphokines and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of the cell wall to enter the cytoplasm. They have been shown to be key players in endocrine, autocrine and paracrine signaling as immunomodulating agents. Since cytokines help to regulate important functions in the human…
If your goal is to attain swift and simple protein quantification, the Bradford assay is the way to go. Let’s find out more about what makes the Bradford assay so effective and relevant over 40 years after its inception. What is Bradford Assay? The Bradford protein assay, named after its developer Marion M. Bradford, is specifically used to calculate the concentration of total protein in a sample or solution. There are three standard methods to calculate and measure protein concentration and those are the bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA assay), absorbance…
Luciferase is an enzyme used by a variety of organisms for bioluminescence. One of the most common examples of bioluminescence exists in the biology of the firefly. Scientists have been able to wield this naturally occurring phenomena to study gene expression at the transcriptional level. Luciferase reporter assays offer rapid quantitative measurements and have a wide range of applications across various fields of cellular and molecular biology. Understanding the basic techniques and applications of luciferase assays is key to troubleshooting any issues that may arise during its execution. Luciferase reporter…
We discuss the need to put phase-appropriate methods in place to identify and quantify both process- and host-cell related impurities throughout the drug development process.
Cell-based potency assays, the central tool used to measure drug efficacy during potency testing, allow scientists to see how a particular dose of a drug will react in a given biological system. We discuss how an ideal CRO partner should approach potency assay design and validation under GMP.
For bioanalytical CROs, it is of critical importance to build an internal team capable of meeting their pharmaceutical and biotech customers’ drug development goals. However, many overlook the benefits of strategically aligning with external partners – those organizations that can add value to the CRO’s offerings, supplementing their solutions and services to make them more comprehensive and attractive to customers.
In our blog discussing the use of cellular assays for neutralizing antibody (NAb) detection, we touched on the value that bioassays offer through their ability to closely mimic the effects that a biotherapeutic drug product will have on the body without the use of animals in the study. This is what makes cell-based potency assays the choice for measuring and validating the therapeutic activity of a drug product within prescribed ranges of safety, purity, and strength (potency), which is a requirement for regulatory submission and both clinical and commercial lot…
Protein-based biologic agents have the potential to induce a variety of immune responses from the body, ranging from very minor to life threatening. One such adverse immune response is generation of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), which can bind to the biotherapeutic drug product administered and prevent it from performing its intended biologic function, in turn negatively impacting the product’s efficacy and safety profile. While standard immunoassays can be used to detect drug-specific antibodies including NAbs, they cannot distinguish NAbs from any other antibodies found. So what can we use to determine…
Unlike small-molecule drugs, large molecule therapeutics face a high chance of detection by the immune system, and are therefore more apt to trigger alarms. The resulting immune responses can range from largely benign to life-threatening, which is why immunogenicity testing has become a critical requirement in the biologics development process. But, the development and implementation of such assays can be technically challenging, and this is causing differing industry opinions around the use of cell-based functional assays vs. non-cell-based competitive ligand binding assays for NAb detection. The Turning Tide Cell-based assays…
Cell-based assays are a key component in the creation of new medicine, from early target and drug discovery efforts through clinical trial and manufacturing support. Complex biochemical processes in the body can often be investigated and understood in cell-based model systems, and there is a near limitless variety of cell-based assay platforms that can be developed. Clinical pharmacology studies are a critical part of demonstrating this ‘biosimilarity’, and provide the data for the biosimilarity in drug exposure between the biosimilar and the originator / reference product to confirm no clinically…
