Product News: Bio-Rad Introduces New Bio-Plex® Assays for Immunology and Cancer Biomarker Research

Bio-Rad Laboratories announced the launch of its new magnetic bead–based multiplex immunoassays for human T-helper type 17 (Th17) cytokines and cancer biomarkers. The Bio-Plex Pro™ immunoassays take advantage of the magnetic bead workflow to simplify assay preparation and reduce variability.

The Bio-Plex Pro Human Th17 cytokine panel detects 16 soluble proteins involved in the Th17 immune response pathway. The Bio-Plex Pro human cancer biomarker panel 1 detects 16 biomarkers commonly associated with cancer. These assays are designed to help preclinical and clinical researchers investigate mechanisms of disease and therapeutic drug action.


The Bio-Plex Pro Human Th17 cytokine panel features nine new targets, including IL-17F, IL-21, and IL-22, which are commonly requested by researchers, as well as IL-17 A/F, which is unique to Bio-Rad. The Th17 cytokines are believed to play a key role in inflammatory conditions such as autoimmune diseases, antimicrobial immunity, transplant rejection, and cancer.


The Bio-Plex Pro human cancer biomarker panel 1 incorporates eight new targets including sEGFR, sVEGFR-1, and osteopontin, as well as three targets unique to the Bio-Plex system: sTIE-2, follistatin, and PECAM-1. These targets are associated with the progression of cancer, including sustained angiogenesis, self-sufficiency in growth signals, and tissue invasion and metastasis.


Bio-Plex Pro assays provide many advantages over other xMAP and ELISA offerings, including:
• Faster assay run time — shorter (one hour) incubation times yield results in three hours compared to other assays, which require overnight incubation
• Better performance — broader assay working range for increased confidence in sample detection, higher precision, and higher sensitivity (0.1 pg/ml for some assays)
• Flexible ordering options — choice of fixed panels, singleplex sets, or custom panels (premium “we mix” and economical “you mix” options) designed with the online Bio-Plex Assay Builder
The Bio-Plex Pro human Th17 cytokine and human cancer biomarker assays are compatible with all Bio-Plex readers, as well as Luminex 200, FLEXMAP 3D, and MAGPIX instruments.


For more information on Bio-Rad’s Bio-Plex product portfolio, please visit www.bio-rad.com/bioplex.