Sigma-Aldrich has entered into an agreement to develop methods to measure several potential biomarkers of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).
This collaboration is with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health and Boston University (BU) and will use plasma samples from the NHLBI's Framingham Heart Study (FHS).
The FHS began in 1948 as a study of more than 5,000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, to identify the factors that increase the risk for CVD.
Since then, it has expanded to include more than 14,000 participants from three generations within families.
Using the results of FHS, researchers have identified a host of risk factors, including high blood cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and obesity.
The FHS is funded by the NHLBI and conducted in collaboration with BU's School of Medicine and School of Public Health.
Sigma Life Science, the biological products and services business of Sigma-Aldrich, plans to work with NHLBI and BU to provide for the analysis of plasma samples from 7,000 participants to investigate 180 potential biomarkers for CVD.
Over the course of this five-year project, Sigma Life Science expects to develop antibody reagents for each identified target biomarker and incorporate the reagents into a multiplexed, high-throughput platform to measure the proteins of interest.
The project is expected to facilitate the development of diagnostic tools for the early detection and prevention of CVD, as well as therapies for early treatment.
Data from these studies will be accessible to other scientists through DBGAP (Database for Genotype and Phenotype), in accordance with data-sharing policies.
The identification of antibody reagents specific to CVD biomarkers is expected to further expand Sigma Life Science's growing portfolio of more than 38,000 monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.
In addition, the company offers 8,300 highly validated Prestige Antibodies, covering more than 6,900 human protein targets identified by the Human Proteome Resource.
