The Importance of Conjunctival Biomarkers

The conjunctiva, a thin, translucent, highly vascularized mucus-secreting tissue, is part of the anterior segment. Its functions are to maintain ocular surface homeostasis, protect the soft tissues of the orbit and eyelid, facilitate eyeball and eyelid movement, provide the aqueous and mucus layers of the tear film, and provide a complex immune defense system. With advances in sampling techniques and the potentially important role of tear film biomarkers in the pathogenesis of ocular surface damage and technical feasibility, conjunctival tissue has become a valuable tool for assessing biomarkers of various ocular diseases with minimal discomfort to the eye. For example, the conjunctival biomarker HLA-DR has been widely used to monitor disease severity, most commonly seen in dry eye syndrome (DED), and to assess the potential for therapeutic efficacy during drug development. In addition, among the 230 differentially expressed proteins of conjunctival degenerative disease pterygium, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 3 family member A1, protein disulfide bond isomerase A3, and PRDX2 were significantly overexpressed in recurrent pterygium. This suggests that oxidative stress predominates in pterygium formation and can be used as a prognostic biomarker to evaluate patient status.

Fig. 1. The mechanism network of biomarkers in pterygium. (He S, et al., 2022)

Ace Therapeutics' Conjunctival Biomarker Identification and Analysis Services

As a provider of ophthalmology research solutions, Ace Therapeutics is fortunate to have more and more research platforms and technologies to accelerate the development of your project. Our ophthalmic biomarker expert team has built a complete analysis process to discover conjunctival biomarkers, and explain related ocular surface disease and drug mechanism. Our services benefit from Ace Therapeutics' years of in-depth experience as a CRO specializing in ocular biomarkers beyond what is usually considered feasible.

Our consulting scientists are always on the same page with customers from the early stage of program design to the later stage of implementation. After sample collection, various analytical methods, including microscopy, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and in vivo confocal microscopy (IVMC), have been employed by our scientists for the determination of biomarkers in conjunctival cells. By using microscopy, we can visualize cell morphology and count the number of goblet cells in the conjunctival epithelium. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry are techniques used to detect subclinical inflammation of the ocular surface by measuring inflammatory markers. RT-PCR involves the isolation of mRNA from impression cytology (IC) samples, thereby providing information on the regulation of specific genes on the ocular surface. In vivo confocal microscopy (IVMC) was employed to assess cellular changes in the cornea and conjunctiva.

Explore Our Service Strategies

• Conjunctival Tissue Sampling

Ace Therapeutics' laboratory technicians take samples using impression cytology (IC), an easily reproducible, almost painless, minimally invasive technique for the rapid collection of superficial conjunctival epithelial cells. It is widely used in follow-up studies of gene and protein expression in conjunctival cells to identify and analyze new ocular surface disease biomarkers and to further understand the underlying mechanisms of ocular surface diseases.

Using our multi-omics technology platform (especially proteomics and genomics), we can provide you with the following types of conjunctival biomarker discovery and identification services.

• Conjunctival Protein Biomarkers

Ace Therapeutics' scientists are able to discover protein biomarkers in conjunctival tissue related to inflammation and apoptosis and to decipher the role of conjunctival proteins in disease pathophysiology. Our scientists use two dimensional gel electrophoresis technology to extract proteins from collected IC samples, and use liquid-mass spectrometry for identification analysis, and finally use the dot blot method for further verification and confirmation.

• Conjunctival Inflammation Biomarkers

Inflammation plays a key role in many ocular surface diseases, and the ocular mucosa plays a key role in regulating and resolving inflammation. Throughout the conjunctival inflammation biomarker discovery process, our scientists utilize various inflammatory animal models (such as the mouse dry eye model）for experimental design and biomarker evaluation. Potential biomarkers were identified by assessing differences between the responding and non-responding groups.

• Cytokine and Chemokine Biomarkers

The conjunctival epithelium plays an active role in ocular surface defense and inflammation by releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokine mediators. Ace Therapeutics provides our clients with comprehensive conjunctival cytokine biomarker discovery and characterization services through a variety of immunoassays and other omics approaches. We can detect IL-6, IL-8, GM-CSF, RANTES, TNF-α, CCR5, CCR2 and their ligands and many other cytokines and chemokines, including but not limited to.

• Conjunctival Lipid Peroxidation Biomarkers

Oxidative stress plays a key role in cellular damage leading to ocular surface disease. Measurement of lipid peroxidation end products is one of the widely accepted methods to detect oxidative damage. Ace Therapeutics provides comprehensive conjunctival oxidative stress biomarker discovery and validation services to clients worldwide. We are able to detect TAC, MDA, , GPx and many other markers of lipid peroxidation including but not limited to.

Why Choose Us?

• Multiple types of conjunctival biomarkers.
• Strong biological information processing and data processing capabilities.
• Reliable data reproducibility, reducing batch effects.
• Research on the mechanism of ocular surface diseases (dry eye syndrome, etc.) and drug action mechanism.

At Ace Therapeutics, we continuously invest in cutting-edge technologies, validate and develop novel assays, and provide our clients with a comprehensive conjunctival biomarker service, relying on our flexible approach, extensive experience, well-established and validated workflows, highly dedicated bioinformatics team, extensive collection of historical data, high quality and fast turnaround to support your preclinical ophthalmic drug development. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us.

References

1. Roy N, Levanon S, Asbell PA. Potential Biomarkers for Allergic Conjunctival Diseases. Eye Contact Lens. 2020;46 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S109-S121.
2. He S, Wu Z. Biomarkers in the Occurrence and Development of Pterygium. Ophthalmic Res. 2022;65(5):481-492.

• Tear Fluid Biomarker Identification and Analysis Services
• Aqueous Humour Biomarker Identification and Analysis Services
• Vitreous Biomarker Identification and Analysis Services

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