Alliance to Develop Multi-Analyte Profiling Assays

A strategic partnership has been formed that will permit Arup Laboratories (Salt Lake City, UT) to develop and commercialize clinical laboratory assays based on the multi-analyte profiling (LabMAP) technology of Luminex Corp. (Austin, TX, USA). Arup will have broad access to Luminex's LabMAP system to develop both immunologic applications as well as various molecular diagnostic tests. Luminex will receive royalty payments based on the sale of the tests developed by Arup.

Arup now offers two new assays utilizing the Luminex LabMAP technology. The first is a multiplexed assay that detects antibody levels to pneumococcal polysaccharides in patients receiving pneumococcal vaccine, and is useful for assessing patients with recurrent or persisting bacterial infections due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. The second assay is a panel that simultaneously measures mononuclear cell cytokine responses to mitogens (phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, and pokeweed mitogen) and specific antigens (tetanus and candida) and simultaneously detects the Th-1-type cytokines. The panel is useful in the evaluation of patients with recurrent infections, allergic disorders, immune deficiency and parasitic infections.

The Luminex LabMAP technology is based on microscopic beads called microspheres that are internally labeled with two different fluorophores. Different antigens, antibodies, or nucleotide probes can then be attached to these beads and a third fluorophore can be used to detect and to quantitate the antibodies, microbial antigens, or RNA or DNA in a patient's sample. The technology allows up to a maximum of 100 different substances to be quantitated within a single assay.

"We feel the new multi-analyte Luminex technology represents an important new wave of laboratory testing that permits the simultaneous analysis of a number of different analytes in a single reaction,” said Harry R. Hill, M.D., director of the Arup Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology and professor of pathology at the University of Utah. Arup is a leader in the U.S. clinical reference laboratory industry and a global leader in laboratory research and development.





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