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TruCulture

TruCulture tubes – available only from IQVIA Laboratories Protein Biomarkers– provide a closed system for whole blood collection and culturing at the time and place of sample collection, minimizing the bias and variability introduced by sample shipping and manipulation. 
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TruCulture

A wholeblood collection and culture tube for standardized functional immunophenotyping

Our integrated system captures immune cell activity without specialized laboratory equipment. TruCulture enables researchers to reproducibly ascertain information about immune responses to stress or stimulation, including responses to novel therapeutics. The ex vivo TruCulture procedure preserves physiological cellular interactions to more accurately reflect the complexities of the human immune system, bringing added value to immune monitoring in clinical trials.

Traditional pharmacodynamic whole blood experiments are generally short in duration (2-6 hours) due to poor culture conditions and premature termination of the normal physiological immune response. TruCulture provides a longer, more robust response to enable higher sensitivity and great relevance than short incubation times that may only lead to the release of stored pre-synthesized mediators.

Advantages

  • Integrated closed sterile instant whole blood collection and culture system
  • Standardized to ensure consistent performance across multiple users and clinical sites
  • Reliable, easy to use, and reproducible – eliminates the need for cell manipulation
  • Retains all blood components, granulocytes, platelets, red blood cells, soluble factors and Fc receptor expressing cells
  • Utilizes an inexpensive heat block, replacing the need for additional lab equipment or centrifugation steps
  • Successfully deployed in hundreds of clinical drug trials

Challenges of PBMCs

  • Requires separate blood collection and specialized cell culture procedures
  • Extensive manipulation, processing, and often freezing/shipping prior to culturing
  • Requires technical expertise with increased variability across users and clinical sites
  • Requires CO2 incubator, biosafety cabinet, centrifuge, media and cell culture plastics
  • Culture procedures/conditions are difficult to standardize for clinical trial applications.
  • Open, less sterile, artificial system
  • Poor reproducibility

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TruCulture Applications

TruCulture Applications

 

TruCulture has been utilized as a whole-blood stimulation system by researchers and drug developers in several fields to reliably measure immune response for the following applications.

  • Pharmacodynamics (including dose response)
  • Functional immune cell analysis
  • Disease characterization
  • Patient stratification
  • Genotype-to-phenotype association studies
  • Vaccine development

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Get a quote for TruCulture or other services from our lab. 

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Watch our videos

Our videos offer step-by-step guidance through the collection process.

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Stimulants

Stimulants for TruCulture tubes

TruCulture tubes are available with a variety of validated stimulants. Estimated lead time for TruCulture tube delivery is 6-8 weeks from receipt of PO, signed contract where applicable, and Shipping Form (2 weeks for LPS and null tubes, which areroutinely kept in stock).

 

TruCulture tubes can also be customized with soluble substances to target the immune pathway of choice. Contact our Protein Biomarker Center of Excellence to co-develop TruCulture tubes. We can evaluate your stimuli of interest for sterility, solubility, dose response, short and long-term stability, and reproducibility.

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PART # STIMULUS DESCRIPTION TYPE
782-001277 Interferon beta (IFN-beta) Type I interferon, modulator of for example T lymphocyte responses Cytokine
782-001278 Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) + tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-alpha) 2 synergistically acting pro-inflammatory cytokines (weak to modest immune cell activation) Cytokine
782-001295 TNF-alpha Pro-inflammatory cytokine; weak activator of mediator synthesis when used alone Cytokine
782-001086 Null Pure (proprietary) TruCulture media without stimulants Negative Control
782-001291 NegCo TruCulture media without stimulants, specially formulated for premium and custom tubes Negative Control including custom excipients
782-001272 Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) + Lipopolysaccharide (LPS-EB) ATP modulates via purinergic receptors (such as P2X7) LPS-induced activation of cells of the innate part of the immune system NLRP3 Inflammasome / TLR4 Ligand
782-001273 Lauroyl-γ-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (C12-iE-DAP) Dipeptide representing bacterial peptido-glycan, activator of NOD1 (intracellular pattern recognition receptor) NOD Ligand
782-001259 Zymosan ß-glucan particles (fractions of yeast cell walls); triggers phagocytosis via TLR2, Dectin, and CD11/18 Phagocyte activator
782-001275 HKEB Heat killed preparation of the gram negative bacterium, E. Coli O111:B4. Triggers phagocytosis via TLR2, TLR4, and various others Phagocyte activator
782-001125 anti-CD3 + anti-CD28 Two antibodies triggering T-cell activation via the signaling unit of the T-cell receptor complex (CD3) + co-activation (intensifying T-cell responses, adding activities of Th2 and Treg) via CD28 T-Cell activation
782-001202 anti-CD3 T-cell activation via the signaling unit of the T-cell receptor complex (CD3) T-Cell activation
782-001416 TStim TCR-MHC cross-linking Mabs plus co-stim T-Cell activation
782-001274 Fibroblast-Stimulating
Lipopeptide (FSL-1)		 Synthetic analogue of microbial
lipoprotein; agonist of TLR2/TLR6		 TLR2 Ligand
782-001282 Polyinosinic : polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C) Analogue of double-stranded RNA, mimics the presence of viral infection. Activator of TLR3 TLR3 Ligand
782-001087 Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) Bacterial endotoxin (E.coli, O55:B5) that elicits a strong innate immune response TLR4 Ligand
782-001261 LPS-EB Bacterial endotoxin (E.coli, O111:B4) that elicits a strong innate immune response TLR4 Ligand
782-001455 LPS+TStim Bacterial edotoxin (E.coli, O55:B5) that elicits a strong innate response in addition to a T cell response by crosslinking the T cell receptor and MHC on monocytes/macrophages TLR4 Ligand +
T cell receptor ligand
782-001269 Gardiquimod Synthetic agonist of TLR7 (responding to single-stranded RNA, for example) TLR7 Ligand
782-001264 Resiquimod (R848) Synthetic agonist of TLR7 and TLR8 (both responding to single-stranded RNA) TLR7/8 Ligand

 

Sample Analysis

Analyzing TruCulture samples

Our Protein Biomarker Center of Excellence – which developed the TruCulture system – provides quantitative measurements of immune-related proteins from TruCulture supernatants. We can test your TruCulture samples using our internally developed Luminex- and Simoa-based assays.

 

TruCulture tubes can also be tested on additional platforms, including the Alamar ARGO HT and Meso Scale Discovery (MSD). TruCulture samples have also demonstrated utility when tested by flow cytometry and gene expression analysis. 

Contact our client service team for more information
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