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Rules-Based Medicine’s, a Q2 Solutions Company (formerly Myriad RBM) biomarker testing services and TruCulture product have been cited in over 1000 peer-reviewed research articles.  As a CLIA-certified laboratory, RBM provides researchers with reproducible, quantitative immunoassay data for a few or hundreds of proteins for clinical samples. Our services support many applications including pharmacodynamic, prognostic, and predictive studies.

Here we highlight some recent publications in various disease areas. We also feature utilization of TruCulture outside human use for standardized functional immunophenotyping procedures.

Immuno-Oncology

Several high-profile publications and presentations demonstrate the value of our MAP (Multi-Analyte Profile) and Simoa Ultrasensitive Immunoassay testing platforms for measuring panels of immune and cancer-related soluble factors present in peripheral blood from patients enrolled in immune therapy trials. Here are a few of those publications.

Baseline serum biomarker signatures are prognostic for nivolumab drug clearance and overall survival in melanoma and renal cancer. 1,2

Elevated baseline levels of circulating inflammatory, myeloid (CRP, IL-6, S100A12) and angiogenic proteins (ANGPT2, vWF, ICAM1) correlated with shorter overall survival. 3

Visit The outcome had an unexpected association between CSF Apolipoprotein E and Ceruloplasmin.

Autoimmune Disease

In a study on systemic Lupus Erythematosus, RBM biomarker testing services were used to measure plasma proteins levels of unique SLE and inflammatory pathways.5 The goal was to better understand the numerous individual pathologies of SLE on organ systems. It was found that blood proteins aside from the established, distinct SLE biomarkers could be used to monitor unique organ specific inflammation pathways.

In a recent phase II rheumatoid arthritis study6 comparing the BTK inhibitor fenebrutinib to the TNFa adalimumab or placebo, IL-6 levels as measured by RBM’s IL-6 ultrasensitive immunoassay demonstrated dose dependent temporal reductions in IL-6.

Cancer

Plasma proteins were measured using RBM services to determine potential prognostic markers at baseline for overall survival in patients with advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma treated with galunisertib.7 The PLOS research article shows that 17/212 tested proteins had the potential to be prognostic.

TruCulture

Utilization of TruCulture whole-blood collection tubes to measure immune responses has now been extended for use in cattle.8 In Application of the TruCulture whole blood stimulation system for immune response profiling in cattle, researchers optimized 3 types of TruCulture stimulation tubes (LPS, Poly I:C, and Zymosan) for use in Holstein-Friesian bull calves. Cytokine measurements, flowy cytometry, and hematology was used for analysis.

Other animal models used in TruCulture related studies have included a PLOS published paper on VTX-2337 which included monkey and humans.9 Several other studies describe monkey use for social status studies in relation to immunity, including one from Science10

To learn more about various TruCulture applications, visit https://rbm.q2labsolutions.com/products-services/truculture/#tc-applications. There you can find application notes on gene expression analysis on TruCulture samples, RNA extraction/purification protocols, vaccine development, and standard flow cytometry protocols.

References:
  1. Development of a prognostic composite cytokine signature based on the correlation with nivolumab clearance: translational PK/PD analysis in patients with renal cell carcinoma. (2019) Wang R, et al. J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Dec 11;7(1):348.
  2. A machine-learning approach to identify a prognostic cytokine signature that is associated with nivolumab clearance in patients with advanced melanoma (2019) Wang R, et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2019 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31721173/
  3. Correlation of angiogenic and immunomodulatory proteins with clinical outcomes of durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. (2019) Guo X, et al. P6048 ASCO June 1-4. Chicago, IL.
  4. Cerebrospinal fluid ceruloplasmin levels predict cognitive decline and brain atrophy in people with underlying B-amyloid pathology. (2020) Diouf I, et al. Neurobiol Dis.2020 Jun;139:104810. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2020.104810. Epub 2020 Feb 19.
  5. SLE plasma profiling identifies unique signatures of lupus nephritis and discoid lupus. (2019) Smith MA, et al. Sci Rep. 2019; 9: 14433. Published online 2019 Oct 8. doi: 1038/s41598-019-50231-y
  6. Fenebrutinib versus placebo or adalimumab in rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized, double-blind, phase II trial (ANDES Study). (2020) Cohen S, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020 Apr 9. doi: 10.1002/art.41275. [Epub ahead of print]
  7. Biomarkers and overall survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with TGF-bRI inhibitor galunisertib. (2020) Giannelli G, et al. PLoS One.2020 Mar 25;15(3):e0222259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222259. eCollection 2020.
  8. Application of the TruCulture whole blood stimulation system for immune response profiling in cattle. (2020) O’Brien MB, et al. Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2020 Mar;221:110025. doi: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2020.110025. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
  9. Coordinated activation of toll-like receptor8 (TLR8) and NLRP3 by the TLR8 agonist, VTX-2337, ignites tumoricidal natural killer cell activity. (2016) Dietsch GN, et al. PLoS One.2016 Feb 29;11(2):e0148764. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148764. eCollection 2016.
  10. Social status alters immune regulation and response to infection in macaques. (2016) Snyder-Mackler N, et al. Science. 2016 Nov 25;354(6315):1041-1045. doi: 10.1126/science.aah3580.