R&D and Other News from SOLVO!
September 16, 2021
It’s Here! – The Updated SOLVO Transporter Book
Following unprecedented demand, the SOLVO team have worked tirelessly on updating our popular Transporter Book. Now covering the latest regulatory guidance from FDA, EMA and PMDA, holistic in vitro models, transporter proteomics, and an expanded list of 63 transporter monographs. Make sure to secure your free copy today by contacting your local SOLVO representative.
New Product! TranSelect™ Ready-to-Use Cryopreserved Uptake Transporter Cells
The team at SOLVO are delighted to introduce our latest product line – TranSelect™. Available for all uptake transporters recommended by FDA and EMA drug-drug interaction guidelines, TranSelect™ offers a reliable, hassle-free, and convenient solution for your uptake transporter experiments. TranSelect™ transporter-expressing or control HEK293 cells are supplied as individual cryovials and each batch is quality control tested by our transporter experts prior to release to ensure optimal activity, stability, and reproducibility. TranSelect™ available for OATP1B1, OATP1B3, OAT1, OAT3, OCT1, OCT2, MATE1, and MATE2-K, as well as vector control cells.
Introducing Greg Loewen, SOLVO’s new West Coast Senior Business Development Director
SOLVO expanded our North American Business Development team in the first half of 2021 with the addition of Greg Loewen as Senior Business Development Director. Greg brings almost 20 years’ experience in the ADME field encompassing both the lab and commercial aspects of the business, and we are very happy to welcome him to the team! He will be working with our clients on the West Coast of North America.
R&D News – Preclinical Animal Hepatocyte Assays, LAT1, ASCT2, and New Methods for MATEs
Results of preclinical ADME-Tox studies are often challenging to extrapolate to humans. Inter-species differences in the expression, activity, and substrate/inhibitor specificity of hepatic transporters and metabolic enzymes may contribute to poor translation of findings from animal models to the clinic. To elucidate species-specific characteristics of hepatic drug uptake, aid the interpretation of species differences in PK, and support in vitro-based prediction of hepatic drug disposition, we have developed hepatocyte uptake assays for the most commonly used preclinical species: mouse, rat, dog, and cynomolgus monkey. These assays interrogate the activities of Oatps, Ntcp, Oct1, and Oat2 using specific probe substrates, with passive uptake assessed in the presence of an inhibitor cocktail that effectively blocks all these uptake transport routes. Once fully validated, preclinical species hepatocyte assays will be available in both plated and suspension format. Release is expected by Q4 2021.
In the footsteps of the LAT1 assay launched last year, two additional amino acid transporters, LAT2 and ASCT2, will be added to our portfolio in the coming months. Unlike LAT1 which is primarily involved in the cellular uptake of essential amino acids and is implicated in the growth of multiple cancer types, LAT2 is basolaterally located in epithelia, only rarely overexpressed in tumors, and facilitates the transport of large neutral amino acids across barriers like the placenta and the gut (but not the blood-brain barrier where LAT1 dominates). ASCT2 is a sodium-dependent amino acid exchanger that acts in concert with LAT1 in the harmonization of extracellular and intracellular amino acid pools. ASCT2 is coordinately overexpressed with LAT1 in tumors and therefore also viewed as an attractive anticancer target.
Finally, as part of an ongoing effort to bring all our SLC transporter assays to a uniform cellular background, MDCKII-MATE1 and MDCKII-MATE2-K are now being replaced in our portfolio by the recently developed HEK293-MATE1 and HEK293-MATE2-K cell lines. The new MATE1 and MATE2-K assays have been validated both with and without ammonium chloride pretreatment. By acidifying the intracellular milieu and thus increasing transmembrane H+ gradient, ammonium chloride boosts the inverse operation of MATE transporters, resulting in even more robust uptake assay performance.
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Previous entry: SOLVO is pleased to introduce the new product: TranSelect™!
