Elevate Your Research with Services Powered by Innovation

Autoantibody Seromics

Autoantibody seromics is the study of the autoantibody reactome, which is the network of interactions, pathways, and cellular effects driven by autoantibodies - antibodies produced by the immune system that mistakenly target and attack the body’s own tissues and molecules. Autoantibodies may arise due to chronic inflammation, infections, malignancies, or tissue damage, and their effects can extend beyond traditional autoimmunity. In fact, the study of the autoantibody reactome is central not only to the understanding of autoimmune diseases, but can also provide critical insights into many non-autoimmune conditions, including neurological diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, genetic diseases and various cardiovascular conditions.

CDI Labs offers two approaches for studying the autoantibody reactome:

• HuProt™ Proteome Microarray contains over 21,000+ full-length, folded 3D proteins, representing the most comprehensive collection of proteins available today for conformational binding studies.
• HuScan® PhIP-Seq and MouseScan™ PhIP-Seq services offered by CDI Labs Canada, use Phage ImmunoPrecipitation Sequencing (PhIP-Seq) which is a powerful method of multiplexed analysis that combines next-generation proteomics with high-throughput DNA sequencing. These assays allow for the simultaneous analysis of hundreds of thousands of peptides, and can identify specific peptide or protein sequences recognized by antibodies, offering detailed insights into antigenic epitopes.

Viral Exposure Profiling

The study of the antibodies produced in response to various pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, can reveal an individual’s unique history of pathogen exposures. This information can be used in a range of applications including the discovery of viral associations with disease, the study of seroprevalence of viral infections across populations, and the understanding of host-virus interactions (interactions between virus and host, such as identifying cross reactive epitopes, have been shown to be critical to understand mechanisms [of action] such as immune evasion and molecular mimicry).

VirScan® PhIP-Seq, a service offered by CDI Labs Canada, uses Phage ImmunoPrecipitation Sequencing (PhIP-Seq) which is a powerful method of multiplexed analysis that combines next-generation proteomics with high-throughput DNA sequencing. VirScan is designed to identify antibodies versus 68,000+ annotated viral protein sequences from most known proteins from human, mammalian, other vertebrate, mosquito-borne, tick-borne, and other viral genomes.

Target ID

Target identification (Target ID) is a crucial step in the drug discovery and development process. It is aimed at identifying specific molecules or biological pathways that play a key role in a disease process and can be targeted by therapeutic interventions.

The HuProt™ Proteome Microarray is a powerful tool for target identification studies as it allows researchers to identify how a compound or molecule of interest interacts with human proteins at a proteome-wide scale. In a single experiment HuProt can assess protein binding to a wide variety of compounds or molecules including, proteins (protein-protein interactions), DNA, RNA, antibodies (antibody specificity studies), and many more.

For certain projects, the study of membrane proteins may be of special interest as they are key targets for therapeutic intervention, with over 60% of FDA-approved drugs acting on membrane protein targets. However, studying membrane proteins is challenging due to the necessity of embedding them in lipid bilayers to ensure they retain their native structure. To address this need, and to complement data from proteome-wide HuProt analysis, CDI Labs also offers Target ID services using VirD™ Membrane Protein Microarrays. VirD microarrays use a viral-based expression technology to express individual membrane proteins embedded in a cell membrane. Purified virions displaying correctly-folded proteins are printed onto glass to create VirD microarrays. VirD microarrays eliminate the problems encountered when using other methodologies for membrane protein analysis, such as high background from contaminating endogenous proteins in cell-based systems, or receptor inactivation when using detergents or nanodiscs for protein purification.