Viruses and virally transmitted diseases have been impacting human health and well-being for millennia. Some of our greatest scientific challenges and medical triumphs have involved virology, from smallpox to HIV and so many others. And today is no different. With the current outbreak of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its corresponding viral disease, COVID-19, virology is once again in the spotlight.
PerkinElmer’s range of reagents offer support throughout the research and drug discovery process. Whether you are assessing stages of the viral life cycle or monitoring an antiviral immune response, our assay technologies provide simple, sensitive, streamlined workflows to help accelerate your viral studies.
Viral Life Cycle
From viral antigen and protein:protein interaction assays, to cytotoxicity and dsRNA kits, Alpha, HTRF®, and luminescence technologies offer solutions for identifying viral presence, attachment, and genome integration, as well as monitoring cytotoxicity and cell death.
Antiviral Immune Response
Part of developing immunity, and therefore a critical component to successful vaccination, is the body’s inflammatory response. As such, cytokines, inflammatory pathways and inflammatory mediators are important factors to look at when monitoring immunity. Pathways such as MAP kinase, JAK/STAT, and NFκB play a central role in the antiviral immune response along with ligands such as IL-6, TNFα, and the INFs (-γ, -α, -β, and -λ). PerkinElmer offers a wide range of Alpha and HTRF cytokine detection kits, phosphorylation detection kits, and toolbox reagents to monitor these critical indicators of the viral immune response.
COVID-19
Reportedly, a cytokine storm has been associated with COVID-19 infection1, leading to the rise in cytokine panel assays being used when studying the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These cytokine storms are the result of the body over-expressing multiple cytokines in a short period of time in an effort to protect itself from the virus, due to pro-inflammatory loops. This over inflammation is more harmful than helpful to the body. PerkinElmer offers Alpha and HTRF kits for the detection of IL-6, TNFα, and signaling proteins within the JAK/STAT pathway, all of which have shown to play an important role in this cytokine storm.
In addition to a range of cytokines, C-reactive protein (CRP) is also a protein of interest in the study of COVID-19. An inflammatory marker produced by the liver; CRP has been found to rise with the progression of COVID-19. PerkinElmer offers a no-wash, AlphaLISA® detection assay for the quantification of CRP in serum, buffered solution, or cell culture medium.
1Pedersen SF, Ho YC. SARS-CoV-2: a storm is raging. J Clin Invest. 2020 Apr 13. pii: 137647. doi: 10.1172/JCI137647. [Epub ahead of print]