The SILK-Aß assay refers to the use of stable isotope labeling and tandem mass spectrometry for the measurement of the kinetics, or metabolism, of amyloid-beta. Amyloid-beta is a small peptide implicated as a key mediator of Alzheimer’s disease.
Joel Braunstein, managing member of C2N Diagnostics, said: “With the industry availability of this assay, for the first time, it is now possible for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to readily evaluate the impact of their development-stage compounds on the production and clearance rates of amyloid-beta.
The sensitivity of the assay intends to enable clinical researchers the ability to discriminate active from inactive drugs with a remarkably small number of patients.”