Assay Technology

TECHNOLOGY:
Bone-Marrow-Proliferation Assay

DESCRIPTION:
Many anticancer and anti-HIV therapeutics produce severe myelotoxicity (bone marrow damage) that may be dose limiting or preclude their use completely. Prior to clinical use of a new drug it is important to evaluate this toxicity to establish clinical trial dosing. These studies are typically performed using colony-forming assays taking about 14 days to complete. The assays are labor intensive requiring colonies to be counted manually.

Using bone marrow cells (human or animal), this novel in vitro assay reliably measures the effect of any compound on human bone marrow, whether suppressive or enhancing. The assay requires only three days to complete, and is much more automated than traditional assays thereby reducing labor costs.

Briefly, the assay involves activating bone marrow cells with a mixture of cytokines and growth factors; contacting the activated bone marrow cells with the therapeutic agent to be tested; and detecting proliferation of the bone marrow cells in the presence of the agent. Increases or decreases in the amount of cell proliferation indicate whether the agent has a myelotoxic effect or suppresses myelotoxicity.

DEVELOPMENT STATUS: Validated

PATENT PROTECTION: US Patent Application No. 60/501,875

REFERENCE NUMBER: S0276

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