Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year, a number that is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030*.
Now BBI Solutions (BBI) has announced the launch of a range of antibodies for the biomarker Galectin-3. Galectin-3 has been recognised as a potential biomarker for heart failure, fibrosis and a variety of cancer types**.
The antibodies complement BBI’s Galectin-3 antigen, which was also launched earlier this year. Available to sample now, these antibodies are highly sensitive with low cross-reactivity.
Primarily used as a cardiac marker, in normal human hearts the expression of Galectin-3 is low. However, research has suggested that as heart disease progresses; Galectin-3 becomes rapidly and significantly up-regulated. Routine Galectin-3 measurements in patients with heart failure could potentially be used to indicate disease progression and identify those patients at highest risk.
Dr James Steggles, BBI’s Commercial Manager for Antibodies, explained: “Our Galectin-3 antigen and antibodies can be used by diagnostic assay developers, for research into tests to help diagnose and monitor heart disease progression, and as an end result, working towards decreasing the number of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease.”
BBI’s antibodies have a very low cross-reactivity with similar Galectin proteins. They have been tested within sandwich ELISA, including in a human serum matrix and can detect Galectin-3 levels as low as 0.025ng/ml, proving they are highly sensitive.
* http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/ahamah-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_470704.pdf
** Galectin-3: a novel mediator of heart failure development and progression. R A. de Boer et al., European Journal of Heart Failure (2009) 11; 811–817
