Collaboration to advance multiplexed biomarker panel for early Type 1 diabetes diagnosis

Genalyte (San Diego, CA) has launched a Type 1 diabetes multiplexed antigen panel that runs on the company's silicon photonics-driven Maverick detection system, and is the first multiplexed assay that measures seven autoantibodies associated with the destruction of pancreatic islet cells seen in Type 1 diabetes. The company is also collaborating with the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes (BDC) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Aurora, CO) to further develop and test multiplexed antigen panels for the early detection of Type 1 diabetes.

Related: Multiplexed detection system from Genalyte garners CE mark approval

The T1D antigen panel was developed as part of the first phase of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant awarded to the company to develop multiplexed assays for the early detection and monitoring of Type 1 diabetes. The $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases also provides support for expansion of the approach to allow autoantibody response profiling by multiple criteria, which is expected to enhance the ability of researchers and clinicians to detect and monitor the development of the disease.

George Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, and Liping Yu, MD, at BDC established assays for measuring islet autoantibodies, explains Martin Gleeson, PhD, chief scientific officer at Genalyte. Islet autoantobodies eventually destroy the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin; to that end, the Maverick detection platform can detect and track the process from an early stage, when interventions to interrupt the disease process may be feasible, he says.

Available to diabetes researchers worldwide, the T1D antigen panel requires only a 2 to 5 μL serum or plasma sample and provides results in less than 15 minutes without the use of dyes, fluorescent probes, or radioactive labels. The panel measures autoantibodies to insulin, proinsulin, GAD 65, GAD 67, IA-2 (PTPRN, ICA512), phogrin (PTPRN2, IA-2ß), and ZnT8 (SLC30A8).

For more information, visit http://genalyte.com/maverick-type-1-diabetes-t1d-assay-kit/.

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