Cytokine Analysis

The completion of entire genome sequences for a number of species has propelled science into a new era. Our goal now is to characterize the proteome –the total complement of proteins for a species.

Although the human genome encodes approximately 30.000 genes, the human proteome is thought to include more than a million protein variants, arising from differential gene splicing and post-translational modifications.

Identifying and characterizing all of those variants is an extensive undertaking that demands new high-throughput technologies. Because of variable rates in protein translation, modification and degradation, mRNA levels do not correlate well with protein levels. Thus, assessing a cell’s protein content requires a method for directly monitoring the protein themselves.

To assist in these efforts, Panomics/Affymetrix offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for pathway analysis. We offer both Antibody Arrays and a Luminex-based Procarta assay for quantitation of cytokines, key molecules in cell communication.

Cytokines are of particular significance because they play a crucial role in both the development and the daily activity of the human body’s immunesystem. The ever-expanding family of cytokine proteins consists of colony-stimulating factors, chemokines, interferons, interleukins, and lymphokines but the majority are growth and differentiation factors.

Acting as intercellular chemical messengers, cytokines are secreted from cells to seek out and bind specific high-affinity cell-surface receptors, which initiate the activation of signal transduction pathways within cells. Both the cytokine proteins and their receptors are transiently expressed to mediate the immune and inflammatory responses of the body.

The vast network of cytokines and their receptors has recently become a focus of both scientific and clinical research. Cytokines have already been implicated in a host of diseases, including arthritis, acute and chronic liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiac-related diseases and some forms of cancer.

Clearly, breakdowns in communication between cells can lead to cellular malfunction.

Only by increasing our comprehension of the complex inner workings of cytokine signaling will we have the keys to unlock the molecular underpinnings of the disease states.