Multiplex MSD Assay Service

Multiplex immunoassays are suited to find out how your drug candidate modulates the body based on the protein level. Via multiplexing with the gold-standard Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) platform, several dozen proteins can be quantified simultaneously, providing you with high-quality data from minimal sample volumes.

What Are MSD Assays?

MSD assays are the state-of-the-art quantification method for absolute amounts of cytokines, chemokines, or signaling proteins. These proteins may serve as pharmacodynamic biomarkers to investigate the effects of drugs regarding dose-response and kinetics in cell and animal models.

The MSD Assay Service in a nutshell:

Sensitive quantification of several proteins in complex biological samples
Determination of biomarkers to monitor drug response in cellular or animal drug testing
Plate-based ELISA setup with cutting-edge electrochemiluminescence readout for unprecedented sensitivity

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Multiplex tailored to your research needs

MSD offers more than 200 analytes for self-assembled multiplexing beside many preselected combinations in ready-to-use plates.

Research areas include

immunology
cell signaling including phosphoproteins
oncology biomarkers
and many more.

MSD Assay Details

MSD Assay Advantages

MSD Assay Advantages

The Meso Scale Discovery platform is the gold standard for multiplex immunoassays. Here is why:

Multiplexing allows fast and cost-efficient testing of an extensive array of cytokines/chemokines
A small sample volume of as little as 5 µl is sufficient to enable testing of plasma from interim blood draws
The exceptionally broad dynamic range enables the detection of proteins that are present in abundance as well as in tiny amounts (up to sub-fg /ml, which is 1000 times more sensitive than standard ELISA)
Meso Scale Discovery provides ready-to-use kits which are thoroughly validated and include defined calibrators for reliable data with high reproducibility

MSD Assay Principle

MSD Assay Principle

MSD assays at Reaction Biology are performed with 96 well plates containing up to 10 detection spots per well.

High binding carbon electrodes on the bottom of the plates allow for attachment of capture antibodies with a 10x greater binding capacity than commonly used plates.

Most MSD immunoassays are sandwich assays similar to ELISA with the detection antibody labeled with a SULFO-tag. During readout, electricity is applied to the plate electrodes by an MSD instrument leading to light emission by the SULFO-tags. The light is then measured to quantify analytes in the sample.

Study Example I

Study Example I

Example study: Quantification of recombinant antibodies from blood samples

Mice were treated at day 0 with a viral construct for expression of a recombinant antibody.

Blood samples (about 20 µl) were taken at the indicated time points, starting with a first sample one day before application of the virus in two different doses.

The resulting expression of a recombinant antibody in mouse serum was determined with MSD technology using antigen-coated assay plates and quantified against an antibody standard (graph below).

Study Example II

Study Example II

Example study: Testing the effect of different cell culture conditions on cytokine release.

Levels of cytokines IL-1beta and IL-8 were analyzed via MSD technology in cell culture supernatants of human mesenchymal stem cells cultured in different conditions for 1, 3, or 7 days. Cytokines were measured in multiplex fashion and quantified against a recombinant calibrator (lower graphs). N =3

Assay Options

MSD Assay Options

Instrument: MSD MESO QuickPlex SQ 120

Selection of analytes:

Cytokines and Chemokines
Intracellular signaling assays including GPCR ligand-binding proteins, phosphoproteins, and ubiquitinated proteins
Metabolic assays
Oncology biomarkers
Toxicology markers

Please reach out to have a conversation with our scientists about the setup best suited to answer your specific research questions.

Samples options:

Plasma or other body fluids
Cell culture supernatant
Tissue homogenates
Cell lysates

Please discuss with us how we can help to derive or prepare the samples for your study.

Sample volume:
For maximum sensitivity, undiluted samples of at least 25 µl are required. However, the high sensitivity of MSD assays allows for most targets to predilute the sample enabling us to perform multiplex analysis out of tiny sample volumes, such as frequent bleeds of mice. Here we can work with a sample volume of as little as 5 µl.