Biomarkers are crucial in advancing science and technology. They are integral in accelerating drug discovery cycles. Many companies rely on safe and effective biomarkers for making vital-go and no-go decisions. Researchers heavily focus on integrating a spectrum of methodologies, technologies, and approaches to assess novel biomarkers. Every biomarker study must generate data with the highest quality. Such stringent requirements will ensure the biomarker of interest indicates normal biological processes, pharmacological responses, or pathogenic progresses.
Researchers have a plethora of techniques available for assessing biomarkers in study samples, including liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) biomarker assays. Having said that, what is LC-MS? LC-MS employs the separating power of chromatography and detecting capacities of mass spectrometers to evaluate biomarkers.
Hyphenated techniques such as LC-MS/MS further enhance the sensitivity of LC-MS instruments. The MSD platform employs electrochemiluminescence detection to analyze proteins and biomarkers. This platform includes numerous assays, such as MSD ELISA and MSD cytokine assays.
The current article focuses on the advances in MSD biomarker discovery and validation in 2023.
MSD Biomarker Assays
In addition to generating safety and efficacy drug profiles, biomarkers are used in identifying patients and enrolling them in clinical studies. Biomarkers often need detection at lower concentrations to assess their clinical relevance. Traditional methods, such as ELISA assays, require large sample volumes; thus analyzing biomarkers can be challenging. MSD assays have emerged as an exciting platform for analyzing small-volume study samples.
Scientists increasingly use MSD assays for immunogenicity, pharmacokinetics, biomarkers, and cell-based testing. The MSD platform employs electrochemiluminescent labels conjugated to detection antibodies. In an appropriate chemical environment, these labels generate a light signal upon electrical stimulation. MSD platforms are compatible with all compliances, such as GLP, non-GLP, and GMP requirements.
Although MSD employs a similar principle of ELISA assays, they use non-radioactive labels and provide sensitive detection, a broader dynamic range, and higher sensitivity at lower volumes of study samples.
ECL detection offers numerous advantages over ELISA assays. These advantages include improved sensitivity, signal amplification, and low background noise. MSD has multiplexing capacities and can detect up to 10 analytes in a single assay volume. MSD product catalog consists of numerous multiplex and singleplex assay kits for cell signaling pathways and profiling biomarkers in a broad range of study matrices.
The MSD platform decouples the electricity from the generated signal. Only the analytes near the electrode surface are identified, reducing background signals. This feature helps researchers analyze a spectrum of study matrices and generate quality data in real-time.
Because of the ability to analyze biomarkers in complex study matrices with low interferences, researchers are rely increasingly on MSD assays. The MSD platform is flexible with non-radioactive electrochemiluminescent labels. Such stability and flexibility ensure higher sensitivity and multiplexing capacities, making them an ideal detection method for biomarker analysis. The MSD platform is ideal for bridging assays, as these formats are not specific to a particular antibody subclass or species.
In Conclusion
MSD assays are increasingly becoming an ideal platform for biomarker studies.