Luminex® Assays

Luminex® Assays
We produce Luminex® assays in formats to suit the individual needs of virtually any lab. Flexibility is one of the many advantages of the Luminex® xMAP® multiplex platform; we’ve taken advantage of this to offer a large selection of premixed Luminex® assay panels for use in cytokine screening, pathway analysis, and simple profiling. In addition, we offer single-target Luminex® bead kits that you can combine to make your own assay panels or can be added to pre-mixed Luminex® assays to create larger panels. Finally, we can build custom Luminex® assay panels for your targets of interest.

Luminex® assays are easy to set up and run, using a procedure that is very similar to an ELISA (Figure 1). Life Technologies has a team of dedicated Field Application Scientists (FASs) ready to help if you are new to Luminex® xMAP® technology or using Luminex® assays for the first time. Our FASs come to your lab to guide you through running a Luminex® assay, and setting up the Luminex® instrument and software. They can also help troubleshoot virtually any problem that may arise. Request your personal Luminex® consultation today.

Tables 1, 2, and 3, demonstrate the superiority of Novex® multiplex Luminex® assays and protein standards (included in the assays). Unlike some other assays, we use the maximum number of beads in each Luminex® assay, so that data are collected from at least 100 events per bead region per target. Counting at least 100 events, compared to the 50 recommended by some manufacturers, leads to lower %CVs and more precise assays. Luminex® assays are subject to rigorous quality control and validation prior to release; we extensively test cross-reactivity to help ensure the specificity of each assay for its intended target. In addition, the protein standards we supply are precisely calibrated to reference materials for maximum consistency.

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Figure 1. Fast and easy Novex® multiplex Luminex® assay protocol. Beads of defined spectral properties are conjugated to protein-specific capture antibodies and added along with samples (including standards of known protein concentration, control samples, and test samples), into the wells of a filter-bottom microplate. Target protein binds to the capture antibodies over the course of a 2-hr incubation. After washing the beads, protein-specific, biotinylated detector antibodies are added and incubated with the beads for 1 hr. Next, excess biotinylated detector antibodies are removed, and streptavidin-conjugated fluorescent protein, R-Phycoerythrin (SAV-RPE), is added and incubated for 30 min. SAV-RPE binds to the biotinylated detector antibodies, forming a four-member, solid-phase sandwich. After washing to remove unbound SAV-RPE, the beads are analyzed with a Luminex® detection system. By monitoring the spectral properties of the beads and the amount of associated R-Phycoerythrin (RPE) fluorescence, the concentration of one or more proteins can be determined. For Research Use Only.  Not intended for any animal or human therapeutic or diagnostic use.

Novex® multiplex Luminex® assays are configured to enable data to be collected from 100 beads per target. Luminex® assay protocols from some providers may require collecting data from only 50 events per region per target (in other words they may require that only 50 beads for each target is read by the detection system). These data indicate that %CVs and assay precision are improved by collecting data from the full 100 bead events compared to collecting data from only 50 bead events.

Novex® mulitplex Luminex® assays are calibrated to NIBSC standards (a set of international reference standards) when available, or to published intracellular cell models for phosphoprotein activity to help ensure that measurements are relevant. Protein standards are tested before and after lyophilization, in single as well as multiplexed assays, for consistency in standard integrity and performance.

We measured assay response from dozens of like-target proteins to help ensure that the antibodies selected for use in Novex® multiplex Luminex® assays are highly specific for their desired targets. The antibodies used in the competitor’s assays are not as rigorously tested and may show nonspecific assay results. In this table we compare results (fluorescence units shown) for the indicated similar target proteins using either Novex® multiplex Luminex® assays or assays from another manufacturer. None of the Luminex® assays showed significant signal from similar, nontarget proteins, whereas a few of the assays from the other supplier showed significant cross-reactivity with nontarget proteins.