In a study entitled "Analysis of Sub-Cellular Events Using Cell-Based High Content Multiplexed Assays," Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., New York, used CellCard System technology from Vitra Bioscience Inc., Mountain View, Calif., to examine the compound effects of multiple assays across ten cancer cell lines on membrane integrity, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis.

"The purpose of the study is to evaluate the capacity of the Vitra Bioscience CellCard System in addressing Bristol-Myers Squibb's needs for increasing the quality of biological data, reducing time-lines, and improving cost-effectiveness, such as saving on reagents," says Taosheng Chen, PhD, senior research investigator, lead discovery, Bristol-Myers Squibb. They have also evaluated the feasibility of integrating the assay system into the current screening environment, he says.

After investigation of multiple multiplexed technologies currently in development or on the market they choose the CellCard System for its cell-based approach, says Chen. "In this system, different cell lines can be grown on encoded CellCards, mixed, and dispensed into the same assay. Cell-based assays similar to conventional singleplex assays can then be performed on multiple cell lines within the same assay."

Five different assays related to cell proliferation were chosen to carry out compound mechanism of action studies for a selected compound library. "In general, data quality met our standard, and data from the multiplexed assays correlates/matches data from singleplex assays available," says Chen. "In the multiplexed assay we identified cell-specific activities from the same assay, which is not possible with singleplex assays, as multiple singleplex assays have to be carried out in order to identify such cell-specific activities." The study validates the concept of cell-based multiplexed assays, he says.

By Elizabeth Tolchin