Study proteins implicated in neurodegenerative disorders

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a wide selection of sensitive and accurate immunoassays for neurobiology and neuroscience research. These assays include ELISA kits and multiplex immunoassays (for the Luminex technology platform) that allow quantification of biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma, and serum for neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, traumatic brain injury, and variety of conditions and diseases of the central nervous system (CNS).

Overview of neurobiology

Quantification of protein biomarkers is critical for neurobiology and neuroscience research and antibody-based techniques, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and multiplex immunoassays, offer powerful tools to achieve sensitive quantification. These proteins include neurodegenerative disease biomarkers, traumatic brain injury biomarkers, including those released due to astroglial, axonal, and neuronal cell body injury, neurotrophic factors (NTFs) that play a key role in the development of neurons, their plasticity, protection, repair, and key cytokines and chemokines that are involved in central nervous system (CNS) tissue homeostasis and neuroinflammation (Figure 1).

A variety of conditions or diseases of the CNS including brain trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or Alzheimer’s disease can trigger neuroinflammation and dysfunction of blood-brain barrier (BBB). Acting in concert with aging, epigenetics, the environment, and other risk factors can strongly influence the onset and progression of these diseases. For example, traumatic brain injury has been established as a risk factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia at later stages of life. In response to insults that perturb homeostasis in the CNS, a rapid and early activation of the glial cells form the acute inflammatory response. This leads to the repair of the damaged area but if the challenge is not cleared and persists, the activation of the response is exaggerated, becomes chronic, and can result in tissue degeneration and even the drastic loss of BBB integrity.

Key targets for neurodegeneration:

  • Amyloid-beta (Aβ, beta amyloid, or Abeta), which is crucially involved in Alzheimer's disease as the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
  • Tau, a protein which stabilizes microtubules and which, when not functioning properly, is implicated in pathologies and dementias of the nervous system.
  • Alpha synuclein (α-synuclein), which is thought to play an important role in maintaining a supply of synaptic vesicles in presynaptic terminals and may also help regulate the release of dopamine.

Key targets for traumatic brain injury:

  • Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a monomeric intermediate filament (IF) protein found in the astroglial cytoskeleton. This protein is not found outside the central nervous system and is only released after cell death or injury, when it may be detected in the blood.
  • S100B is a calcium-sensor protein that is highly expressed in astrocytes but also present in other cells of the nervous system, including oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells, and ependymal cells. Elevated S100B levels in biological fluids has been shown to be a biomarker for acute brain injury.
  • Neurofilament—Heavy (NF-H) and Light (NF-L) are subunits of the neurofilament scaffolding protein of neurons. Neuronal damage can cause the release of neurofilament into the interstitial fluid and subsequently to the cerebrospinal fluid and the blood.
  • Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1) is a brain-specific deubiquitinating enzyme. Elevated cerebrospinal fluid and blood concentrations of UCH-L1 have been associated with traumatic brain injury.

Key targets for neuroinflammation:

  • Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that induces the maintenance, survival, plasticity, and neurotransmitter regulation of neurons, and neurodegenerative disorders often have reduced BDNF concentrations in blood and brain.
  • Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophin that induces the survival, development, and function of neurons and has been shown to have direct and indirect effects on immune response.
  • Proinflammatory cytokines, which include tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8

 

Figure 1. Major neuronal and non-neuronal cell types of the CNS and candidate biomarkers for neuroinflammation, brain injury and neurodegeneration. This schematic depicts possible origins of biomarkers for neuroinflammation, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegeneration. Abbreviations: GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein); S100B (S100 calcium-binding protein B); NCAM-1 (neural cell adhesion molecule -1); NF-H (neurofilament heavy polypeptide); UCHL1 (ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase isoenzyme L1); TREM-2 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2); CHI3L1/YKL-40 (chitinase-3-like protein 1/protein with first three N-terminal amino acids, tyrosine (Y), lysine (K), and leucine (L) with apparent molecular weight of 40); sRAGE (soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products); NGF-beta (nerve growth factor-beta); BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor); GDNF (glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor); CTNF (ciliary neurotrophic factor); BACE1 (beta-secretase 1); KLK6 (kallikrein related peptidase 6); TDP-43 (TAR DNA-binding protein - 43).

Neurobiology ELISA kits

ELISA enables specific, quantitative measurements of protein from a variety of biological sources including serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a variety of species. We offer ELISA kits for the study of critical proteins such as Aβ40/Aβ42, phosphorylated Tau, and alpha-synuclein implicated in neurodegenerative disorders.

Invitrogen ELISA kits for popular targets such as BDNF, GDNF, Amyloid beta etc. are listed in Table 1.  

Standard curve of human Tau (total) and ELISA parallelism between natural and recombinant Human Tau using Tau (Total) Human ELISA Kit is shown in Figure 2.

Search all neurobiology ELISA kits

Learn more about ELISA kits and components

Popular neurobiology protein targets and ELISA performance data

Table 1. View all ELISA kits for the following popular targets:

Graph showing tau standard protein concentration as a function of optical density and second graph showing both human and recombinant tau concentrations are similar

Figure 2. Performance data for Human Tau (Total) ELISA. ELISA was performed using standard human Tau (total) ranging from 0–2,000 pg/mL and Tau (Total) Human ELISA Kit. Left panel: Typical 7-point standard curve. The dynamic range is 31–2,000 pg/mL, with an analytical sensitivity of <12 pg/mL. Right panel: recombinant human (Hu) tau protein standard provided in the kit was compared to natural human tau and serially diluted in Standard Diluent Buffer. The optical density of each dilution was plotted against the standard curve. Parallelism between the natural and recombinant protein indicates that the standard accurately reflects natural Hu tau content in the samples.

Neurobiology ProQuantum high sensitivity immunoassays

ProQuantum Immunoassay Kits for neurobiology and neuroscience research are designed to provide quantitative measurements of proteins in small sample volumes. Utilizing proximity-based amplification technology, the assay combines the analyte specificity of high-affinity antibody-antigen binding with the signal detection and amplification capabilities of real-time PCR to achieve a simple yet powerful next-generation protein quantitation platform. A user-friendly no-wash workflow combined with intuitive software for analytics enables sample-to-answer in just two hours. We continue to launch assays for new targets so check back often to see what is available.

Invitrogen ProQuantum immunoassay kits for popular targets such as Tau, Tau pT181 and Troponin I are listed in Table 2. Standard curve of Tau using Human Tau Total ProQuantum Immunoassay Kit is shown in Figure 3.

Find neurobiology-related ProQuantum assays

Learn more about how the ProQuantum immunoassays work

Read BioProbes Journal article: Introducing ProQuantum High-Sensitivity Immunoassays—The new generation of target-specific protein quantitation

Popular neurobiology research protein targets and ProQuantum assay performance data

Table 2. Neurobiology-related ProQuantum immunoassays. View our ProQuantum immunoassay kits for the following popular targets:

graph plot of standard curve

Figure 3. Representative standard curve of Human Tau (Total). The standard curve for human Tau (total) using Human Tau Total ProQuantum Immunoassay Kit shows a large dynamic range (3.2–500,000 pg/mL) of Tau protein.

Neurobiology ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassays

Invitrogen ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassay panels provide a powerful biomarker detection tool to help distinguish diseased from non-diseased states and/or even differentiate between neurodegenerative diseases. These Luminex xMAP-based assays allow for the simultaneous measurement and tracking of multiple factors/biomarkers over time and open the avenue of a deeper and more thorough understanding of the progression of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Various biomarker levels were tested in cerebrospinal fluid samples of human adult and pediatric patients using the ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex (Figure 4).

Select one of our preconfigured panels described below (Table 3) or use the Panel Configurator button to customize your specific panel.

ProcartaPlex Panel Configurator

Learn more about ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassays

Preconfigured neurobiology-multiplex immunoassay panels and performance data

Figure 4. Quantification of biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma using ProcartaPlex preconfigured panel. Cerebrospinal fluid samples of 10 ungrouped human adult and 10 human pediatric patients were tested for 18 biomarker levels using ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex. Results of the ungrouped human samples are shown for all targets. (Data provided by The Washington University Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs (CHiiPs) Immunomonitoring Laboratory.)

Table 3. Preconfigured ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassay panels for neurobiology.

Neuroscience preconfigured multiplex panel
Product NameSizeCat. No.

ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex

Target list [bead region]:
Amyloid beta 1-42 [42], BDNF [57], YKL-40 (CHI3L1) [34], CNTF [36], FGF-21 [76], GDNF [44], GFAP [22], Kallikrein-6 (KLK6) [14], MIF [67], NCAM-1 [48], Neurogranin (NRGN) [75], NF-H [33], NGF beta [55], S100B [18], Tau (total) [46], Tau (pT181) [61], TDP-43 [74], UCHL1 [19]

96 testsEPX180-15837-901
Neurodegeneration preconfigured multiplex panels

ProcartaPlex Human Neurodegeneration Panel 1, 9plex

Target list [bead region]:
Amyloid beta 1-40 [30], Amyloid beta 1-42 [42], FGF-21 [76], Kallikrein-6 (KLK-6) [14], NCAM-1 [48], Neurogranin (NRGN) [75], Tau (total) [46], Tau (pT181) [61], TDP-43 [74]

96 testsEPX090-15836-901

ProcartaPlex Human Neurodegeneration Panel 2, 4plex

Target list [bead region]:
Apolipoprotein E4 [65], Clusterin (Apo J) [72], Complement Factor H [38], Fetuin-A [62]

96 testsEPX040-15832-901
Neuroinflammation preconfigured multiplex panel

ProcartaPlex Human Neuroinflammation Panel, 6plex 

Target list [bead region]:
BLC (CXCL13) [15], IL-34 [52], MIF [67], RAGE [47], TREM-2 [13], YKL-40 (CHI3L1) [34]

96 testsEPX060-15833-901
Neurotrophic Factor preconfigured multiplex panel

ProcartaPlex Human Neurotrophic Factors Panel, 4plex 

Target list [bead region]:
B7-H6 [42], CD276 (B7-H3) [72], CD47 (IAP) [74], CD48 (BLAST-1) [19], CD134 (OX40) [55], ICOS Ligand (B7-H2) [34], TIMD-4 [39], S100A8/A9 [76], VISTA (B7-H5) [64]

96 testsEPX040-15828-901

Multiplex gene expression and protein assays—neurobiology research

QuantiGene RNA gene expression assays provide a fast and high-throughput solution for multiplexed gene expression quantitation, with simultaneous measurement of up to 80 genes of interest in a single well of a 96- or 384-well plate. The QuantiGene Plex assay is based on hybridization and incorporates branched DNA (bDNA) technology, which uses signal amplification rather than target amplification for direct measurement of RNA transcripts. The assay is run on the Luminex platform, has a simple workflow, and does not require RNA purification. These features allow the user to merge the QuantiGene workflow for gene expression profiling with the ProcartaPlex workflow for protein quantitation (Figure 5) using the same sample. 

QuantiGene has been used to study gene expression in many different areas of neurobiology due to its high-throughput and custom nature, and its flexibility to measure any target with a relevant RNA sequence. Alterman et al. applied QuantiGene Plex to establish a high-throughput assay for mRNA silencing in primary cortical neurons in vitro with oligonucleotide therapeutics [1]. In addition, this group also published a divalent siRNA chemical scaffold for potent and sustained modulation of gene expression throughout the central nervous system [2]. Furthermore, QuantiGene Plex was used to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and tissue distribution of the drug omaveloxolone in monkeys to compare these findings to initial results in Friedreich’s ataxia patients [3]. Bates’ research group studied extensive expression analysis of Htt transcripts in brain regions from the zQ175 Huntington's Disease mouse model using the QuantiGene Plex assay [4] and was subsequently able to show that the heat shock response is impaired in Huntington's Disease mouse models and not caused by HSF1 reduction, as measured by QuantiGene Plex [5]. Multiplex gene expression analysis was key to measure tumor mRNA expression profiles for 92 genes related to angiogenesis and vascularity in glioblastoma samples to assess the vascularity in glioblastoma and its implications on patient outcomes [6].

Learn more about QuantiGene RNA Assays for Gene Expression Profiling

Figure 5. Combined workflow for QuantiGene gene expression and ProcartaPlex protein quantitation assays.

Overview of neurobiology

Quantification of protein biomarkers is critical for neurobiology and neuroscience research and antibody-based techniques, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and multiplex immunoassays, offer powerful tools to achieve sensitive quantification. These proteins include neurodegenerative disease biomarkers, traumatic brain injury biomarkers, including those released due to astroglial, axonal, and neuronal cell body injury, neurotrophic factors (NTFs) that play a key role in the development of neurons, their plasticity, protection, repair, and key cytokines and chemokines that are involved in central nervous system (CNS) tissue homeostasis and neuroinflammation (Figure 1).

A variety of conditions or diseases of the CNS including brain trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or Alzheimer’s disease can trigger neuroinflammation and dysfunction of blood-brain barrier (BBB). Acting in concert with aging, epigenetics, the environment, and other risk factors can strongly influence the onset and progression of these diseases. For example, traumatic brain injury has been established as a risk factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia at later stages of life. In response to insults that perturb homeostasis in the CNS, a rapid and early activation of the glial cells form the acute inflammatory response. This leads to the repair of the damaged area but if the challenge is not cleared and persists, the activation of the response is exaggerated, becomes chronic, and can result in tissue degeneration and even the drastic loss of BBB integrity.

Key targets for neurodegeneration:

  • Amyloid-beta (Aβ, beta amyloid, or Abeta), which is crucially involved in Alzheimer's disease as the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
  • Tau, a protein which stabilizes microtubules and which, when not functioning properly, is implicated in pathologies and dementias of the nervous system.
  • Alpha synuclein (α-synuclein), which is thought to play an important role in maintaining a supply of synaptic vesicles in presynaptic terminals and may also help regulate the release of dopamine.

Key targets for traumatic brain injury:

  • Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a monomeric intermediate filament (IF) protein found in the astroglial cytoskeleton. This protein is not found outside the central nervous system and is only released after cell death or injury, when it may be detected in the blood.
  • S100B is a calcium-sensor protein that is highly expressed in astrocytes but also present in other cells of the nervous system, including oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells, and ependymal cells. Elevated S100B levels in biological fluids has been shown to be a biomarker for acute brain injury.
  • Neurofilament—Heavy (NF-H) and Light (NF-L) are subunits of the neurofilament scaffolding protein of neurons. Neuronal damage can cause the release of neurofilament into the interstitial fluid and subsequently to the cerebrospinal fluid and the blood.
  • Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1) is a brain-specific deubiquitinating enzyme. Elevated cerebrospinal fluid and blood concentrations of UCH-L1 have been associated with traumatic brain injury.

Key targets for neuroinflammation:

  • Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that induces the maintenance, survival, plasticity, and neurotransmitter regulation of neurons, and neurodegenerative disorders often have reduced BDNF concentrations in blood and brain.
  • Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophin that induces the survival, development, and function of neurons and has been shown to have direct and indirect effects on immune response.
  • Proinflammatory cytokines, which include tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8

 

Figure 1. Major neuronal and non-neuronal cell types of the CNS and candidate biomarkers for neuroinflammation, brain injury and neurodegeneration. This schematic depicts possible origins of biomarkers for neuroinflammation, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegeneration. Abbreviations: GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein); S100B (S100 calcium-binding protein B); NCAM-1 (neural cell adhesion molecule -1); NF-H (neurofilament heavy polypeptide); UCHL1 (ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase isoenzyme L1); TREM-2 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2); CHI3L1/YKL-40 (chitinase-3-like protein 1/protein with first three N-terminal amino acids, tyrosine (Y), lysine (K), and leucine (L) with apparent molecular weight of 40); sRAGE (soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products); NGF-beta (nerve growth factor-beta); BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor); GDNF (glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor); CTNF (ciliary neurotrophic factor); BACE1 (beta-secretase 1); KLK6 (kallikrein related peptidase 6); TDP-43 (TAR DNA-binding protein - 43).

Neurobiology ELISA kits

ELISA enables specific, quantitative measurements of protein from a variety of biological sources including serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a variety of species. We offer ELISA kits for the study of critical proteins such as Aβ40/Aβ42, phosphorylated Tau, and alpha-synuclein implicated in neurodegenerative disorders.

Invitrogen ELISA kits for popular targets such as BDNF, GDNF, Amyloid beta etc. are listed in Table 1.  

Standard curve of human Tau (total) and ELISA parallelism between natural and recombinant Human Tau using Tau (Total) Human ELISA Kit is shown in Figure 2.

Search all neurobiology ELISA kits

Learn more about ELISA kits and components

Popular neurobiology protein targets and ELISA performance data

Table 1. View all ELISA kits for the following popular targets:

Graph showing tau standard protein concentration as a function of optical density and second graph showing both human and recombinant tau concentrations are similar

Figure 2. Performance data for Human Tau (Total) ELISA. ELISA was performed using standard human Tau (total) ranging from 0–2,000 pg/mL and Tau (Total) Human ELISA Kit. Left panel: Typical 7-point standard curve. The dynamic range is 31–2,000 pg/mL, with an analytical sensitivity of <12 pg/mL. Right panel: recombinant human (Hu) tau protein standard provided in the kit was compared to natural human tau and serially diluted in Standard Diluent Buffer. The optical density of each dilution was plotted against the standard curve. Parallelism between the natural and recombinant protein indicates that the standard accurately reflects natural Hu tau content in the samples.

Neurobiology ProQuantum high sensitivity immunoassays

ProQuantum Immunoassay Kits for neurobiology and neuroscience research are designed to provide quantitative measurements of proteins in small sample volumes. Utilizing proximity-based amplification technology, the assay combines the analyte specificity of high-affinity antibody-antigen binding with the signal detection and amplification capabilities of real-time PCR to achieve a simple yet powerful next-generation protein quantitation platform. A user-friendly no-wash workflow combined with intuitive software for analytics enables sample-to-answer in just two hours. We continue to launch assays for new targets so check back often to see what is available.

Invitrogen ProQuantum immunoassay kits for popular targets such as Tau, Tau pT181 and Troponin I are listed in Table 2. Standard curve of Tau using Human Tau Total ProQuantum Immunoassay Kit is shown in Figure 3.

Find neurobiology-related ProQuantum assays

Learn more about how the ProQuantum immunoassays work

Read BioProbes Journal article: Introducing ProQuantum High-Sensitivity Immunoassays—The new generation of target-specific protein quantitation

Popular neurobiology research protein targets and ProQuantum assay performance data

Table 2. Neurobiology-related ProQuantum immunoassays. View our ProQuantum immunoassay kits for the following popular targets:

graph plot of standard curve

Figure 3. Representative standard curve of Human Tau (Total). The standard curve for human Tau (total) using Human Tau Total ProQuantum Immunoassay Kit shows a large dynamic range (3.2–500,000 pg/mL) of Tau protein.

Neurobiology ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassays

Invitrogen ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassay panels provide a powerful biomarker detection tool to help distinguish diseased from non-diseased states and/or even differentiate between neurodegenerative diseases. These Luminex xMAP-based assays allow for the simultaneous measurement and tracking of multiple factors/biomarkers over time and open the avenue of a deeper and more thorough understanding of the progression of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Various biomarker levels were tested in cerebrospinal fluid samples of human adult and pediatric patients using the ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex (Figure 4).

Select one of our preconfigured panels described below (Table 3) or use the Panel Configurator button to customize your specific panel.

ProcartaPlex Panel Configurator

Learn more about ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassays

Preconfigured neurobiology-multiplex immunoassay panels and performance data

Figure 4. Quantification of biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma using ProcartaPlex preconfigured panel. Cerebrospinal fluid samples of 10 ungrouped human adult and 10 human pediatric patients were tested for 18 biomarker levels using ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex. Results of the ungrouped human samples are shown for all targets. (Data provided by The Washington University Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs (CHiiPs) Immunomonitoring Laboratory.)

Table 3. Preconfigured ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassay panels for neurobiology.

Neuroscience preconfigured multiplex panel
Product NameSizeCat. No.

ProcartaPlex Human Neuroscience Panel, 18plex

Target list [bead region]:
Amyloid beta 1-42 [42], BDNF [57], YKL-40 (CHI3L1) [34], CNTF [36], FGF-21 [76], GDNF [44], GFAP [22], Kallikrein-6 (KLK6) [14], MIF [67], NCAM-1 [48], Neurogranin (NRGN) [75], NF-H [33], NGF beta [55], S100B [18], Tau (total) [46], Tau (pT181) [61], TDP-43 [74], UCHL1 [19]

96 testsEPX180-15837-901
Neurodegeneration preconfigured multiplex panels

ProcartaPlex Human Neurodegeneration Panel 1, 9plex

Target list [bead region]:
Amyloid beta 1-40 [30], Amyloid beta 1-42 [42], FGF-21 [76], Kallikrein-6 (KLK-6) [14], NCAM-1 [48], Neurogranin (NRGN) [75], Tau (total) [46], Tau (pT181) [61], TDP-43 [74]

96 testsEPX090-15836-901

ProcartaPlex Human Neurodegeneration Panel 2, 4plex

Target list [bead region]:
Apolipoprotein E4 [65], Clusterin (Apo J) [72], Complement Factor H [38], Fetuin-A [62]

96 testsEPX040-15832-901
Neuroinflammation preconfigured multiplex panel

ProcartaPlex Human Neuroinflammation Panel, 6plex 

Target list [bead region]:
BLC (CXCL13) [15], IL-34 [52], MIF [67], RAGE [47], TREM-2 [13], YKL-40 (CHI3L1) [34]

96 testsEPX060-15833-901
Neurotrophic Factor preconfigured multiplex panel

ProcartaPlex Human Neurotrophic Factors Panel, 4plex 

Target list [bead region]:
B7-H6 [42], CD276 (B7-H3) [72], CD47 (IAP) [74], CD48 (BLAST-1) [19], CD134 (OX40) [55], ICOS Ligand (B7-H2) [34], TIMD-4 [39], S100A8/A9 [76], VISTA (B7-H5) [64]

96 testsEPX040-15828-901

Multiplex gene expression and protein assays—neurobiology research

QuantiGene RNA gene expression assays provide a fast and high-throughput solution for multiplexed gene expression quantitation, with simultaneous measurement of up to 80 genes of interest in a single well of a 96- or 384-well plate. The QuantiGene Plex assay is based on hybridization and incorporates branched DNA (bDNA) technology, which uses signal amplification rather than target amplification for direct measurement of RNA transcripts. The assay is run on the Luminex platform, has a simple workflow, and does not require RNA purification. These features allow the user to merge the QuantiGene workflow for gene expression profiling with the ProcartaPlex workflow for protein quantitation (Figure 5) using the same sample. 

QuantiGene has been used to study gene expression in many different areas of neurobiology due to its high-throughput and custom nature, and its flexibility to measure any target with a relevant RNA sequence. Alterman et al. applied QuantiGene Plex to establish a high-throughput assay for mRNA silencing in primary cortical neurons in vitro with oligonucleotide therapeutics [1]. In addition, this group also published a divalent siRNA chemical scaffold for potent and sustained modulation of gene expression throughout the central nervous system [2]. Furthermore, QuantiGene Plex was used to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and tissue distribution of the drug omaveloxolone in monkeys to compare these findings to initial results in Friedreich’s ataxia patients [3]. Bates’ research group studied extensive expression analysis of Htt transcripts in brain regions from the zQ175 Huntington's Disease mouse model using the QuantiGene Plex assay [4] and was subsequently able to show that the heat shock response is impaired in Huntington's Disease mouse models and not caused by HSF1 reduction, as measured by QuantiGene Plex [5]. Multiplex gene expression analysis was key to measure tumor mRNA expression profiles for 92 genes related to angiogenesis and vascularity in glioblastoma samples to assess the vascularity in glioblastoma and its implications on patient outcomes [6].

Learn more about QuantiGene RNA Assays for Gene Expression Profiling

Figure 5. Combined workflow for QuantiGene gene expression and ProcartaPlex protein quantitation assays.

Additional resources for neurobiology immunoassays

Immunoassay instruments

References

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