Introduction

This invention provides an in vitro and ex vivo method that, through a series of scientifically measured parameters, is able to monitor and predict the cellular response in many conditions (physiological and / or pathological, such as a response to the use of drugs, to the active ingredients of drugs, to environmental factors and contaminants.) The patent proposes the development of appropriate kits for the evaluation of cell signaling in its industrial applications.

Technical features

The current methods for monitoring and prediction of cell fate, based on molecular signaling pathways, have several limitation. They consider a single signal at a time and give results in a long time. Instead, the developed method allows for the rapid monitoring and prediction of cell fate (about 24 hours) for a variety of applications, taking into account different signaling pathways simultaneously and providing unequivocal results on cell fate. This patent describes an in vitro and ex vivo method for monitoring and prediction of cell fate and/or death in response to stimuli and/or stress based on the analysis of gene expression and on the processing of the data obtained. It involves: the gene expression analysis; a bioinformatics tool for the cell signaling pathway determination on the basis of the gene expression data analysis; a flowchart to define the algorithm to predict the targeted cellular pathway. The patent also develops the appropriate kits for the evaluation of cell signaling in industrial applications. The invention is in TRL 4 because it has been validated in experimental analyzes.

Possible Applications

• Biomedical research (i.e., in vitro testing, drug discovery; to test a new compound bioactivity);
• Clinical purposes and biotechnological, pharmacological and diagnostic applications (i.e., predictive diagnostics; evaluation of drug effects/biotic or abiotic stimuli ; veterinary sciences);
• Environmental assessments and monitoring (i.e., environmental contaminants assessment).

Advantages

• The unambiguous response of cell fate determination;
• Rapid predictive response in 24 hours (for therapeutic strategies and in drug discovery);
• Significant reduction in costs (i.e., man-time, reactive);
• Easy diagnostic tool.