Advances in molecular biology have made it possible to identify key molecular targets underlying the pathogenesis of many severe diseases. This led to the development of targeted therapy concept and the emergence of a new class of drugs — therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.
This type of drugs, which number is increasing every year, are undergoing clinical trials for regulatory approval. Tissue microarrays (TMA) serve the modern platform for the development of therapeutic and diagnostic monoclonal antibodies: an innovative, robust and cost-effective method to test specificity and cross-reactivity.
What TMA is:
A tissue microarray is a paraffin or frozen block with embedded tissue cylinders of 0.6 to 3.0 mm in diameter. The most convenient and popular format is a block for 60 cylinders of 2.0 mm in diameter. Paraffin or frozen sections of TMA are used for histological, immunohistochemical, or molecular genetic studies.
Advantages of using TMA:
- fewer histological sections are required for analysis,
less time needed for work completion, - reduced consumption of reagents and expendable materials,
- reduced costs of antibody R&D comparing to using regular tissue fragments,
- better quality and reduced variability of research results and subsequent analysis, since tissue samples are processed similarly and simultaneously.
TMA RESEARCH
GenextEst LCC and NBS offers a turnkey service for histological and immunohistochemical (IHC) studies. The list of services includes:
- Development of an individualized Protocol for histological / IHC research
Staining with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) - Histological analysis of stained preparations
- Specialized staining (carmine, methyl green fuchsin, Congo, Sudan, methylene blue, etc.) by progressive and regressive, direct and indirect methods
- Immunohistochemical staining with commercial research antibodies
- Control immunohistochemical staining with antibodies to actin/vimentin/von Willebrand factor/etc.
- IHC detection of nonspecific sorption of secondary detection systems in the preparations
- Evaluation of immunohistochemical adsorption of antibody-based candidate drugs or diagnostics
- Evaluation of immunohistochemical cross-reactivity of antibody-based drugs
- Scanning of histo-and immuno-stained samples with Leica/3D Histech scanning light microscope at 20x or 40x magnification, with digital image recording
- Optical microscopic computer analysis of the intensity and / or area of immuno-staining of histological preparations
- Sample report.
HARMONIZED TMA
NBS offers a unique set of harmonized TMA for analysis. Tissue microarrays meet all the requirements of regulatory organizations in Europe and the US. Harmonized TMA unites a set of 37 normal human tissues. Each tissue is represented in six replicates:
- three biological replicates from three donors (from two males and one female for non-gender organs, and from three males or females for gender organs)
- two technical replicates (two from each donor)
A patented feature of harmonized TMA is that tissues with similar physical and chemical properties and morphofunctional characteristics are placed within a single matrix block.
CUSTOMIZED TMA
NBS possesses all essential scientific and technical resources that make it possible to produce TMA with the required set of tissues for a specific study in the shortest time possible. Both normal tissues and tissues belonging to following clinical areas can be represented in TMA:
- Oncological diseases,
- Cardiovascular diseases,
- Hematological diseases,
- Rheumatological / autoimmune diseases,
- Endocrine and metabolic diseases,
- Population groups.
LIST OF TISSUES:
Bladder
Cholic bubble
Blood (clot)
Bone marrow
Mammary gland
Cerebellum
Cortex
Colon
Blood vessel
Eye
Fallopian tube
Stomach
Ileum
Heart
Kidney
Liver
Lung
Lymph node (peripheral)
Ovary
Pancreas
Parathyroid gland
Peripheral nerve
Pituitary
Placenta
Prostate
Salivary gland
Skin
Spinal cord
Spleen
Skeletal muscle
Testicle
Thymus
Thyroid gland
Tonsil
Ureter
Cervix uteri
Uterine endometrium