Improving cancer treatment

Innovation

Case Studies

National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China

Improving cancer treatment

Chemotherapy can cause a host of harsh side effects. This is because the drugs used cause a type of cell death known as pyroptosis. Unlike ‘normal’ programmed cell death (apoptosis), pyroptosis is highly inflammatory. Dr Shao and his team discovered that by changing the levels of a particular protein, gasdermin E (GSDME), these adverse side effects could be lessened or even avoided.

Working closely with Abcam to develop custom recombinant RabMAb® antibodies, Dr Shao was able to identify the levels of GSDME across dozens of normal and cancerous cells and tissues. He proved that high GSDME levels cause cells to undergo pyroptosis rather than the much less-damaging apoptosis in response to chemotherapy drugs.

Crucial to Dr Shao’s research was using a highly sensitive antibody. The antibody developed with Abcam enabled detection of GSDME at very low levels. Dr Shao estimated that without the collaboration with Abcam, his team would have required at least an additional six months to produce their Nature paper. This work not only gives great insight into cell death and cancer but raises the possibility of improving chemotherapy outcomes and using GSDME as a cancer diagnostic or prognostic tool.

“Our collaboration with Abcam has been extremely successful. Abcam’s Custom Products team developed new antibodies for challenging targets. The antibodies are not only high-quality, but Abcam’s team has managed to significantly reduce the lead time of development, helping to speed up our research. Indeed, without our collaboration with Abcam, our work would have taken at least six months longer.”

Dr Feng Shao
National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China

How our customers benefit

Customers benefit by being able to conveniently find and access the products and information they need to confidently conduct their research.

30.5%

Number of protein targets where Abcam holds #1 position
(by citation): 21.9% (2013) to 30.5% (2017)

1,700+

Recombinant RabMAb® products added to the catalogue

Highly commended – Researcher’s choice: Antibody company succeeding in cancer biology, antibody company of the year

Anticipating and serving customer needs, faster

New proteomics targets are constantly being identified by scientists around the world as they strive to advance their understanding of crucial biological pathways, creating demand for effective new research tools. Driven by those needs, in Abcam is continually launching new recombinant RabMAb antibodies on its catalogue and adding many more applications for its existing antibodies. New products include antibodies developed for targets across major research areas such as oncology, neuroscience and epigenetics, antibodies conjugated with dyes, antibody pairs and affinity binders for our kits.

We continue to invest in ways to deepen our understanding of customers so that we can better anticipate their needs and identify high-value targets. At the same time, we are working to improve our website and digital marketing capabilities, increasing the ease and efficiency with which consumers can find and use those products, as well as investing in our R&D, supply chain and manufacturing capabilities, to enable us to increase the speed at which we can create, manufacture and deliver those products to customers.

According to CiteAb, our products were cited in approximately half of all life science publications in 2019, and we were the most cited company in approximately 40% of the top 2,000 most studied protein targets as of June 30, 2020.

Innovation

National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China

Improving cancer treatment

How our customers benefit

Anticipating and serving customer needs, faster

Innovating in immunoassays

A relentless focus on improving quality

Precision antibodies for clinical use

Improving cancer treatment

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