Technology
The chemical reverse approach used by Toscana Biomarkers is based on the use of synthetic peptides as antigenic probes for the identification of autoantibodies as biomarkers of autoimmune diseases. The approach is called "reverse" because, at variance from the conventional procedure the autoantibodies circulating in biological fluids of patients guide the selection of synthetic peptides as antigenic probes. Thus antibodies provide the model for the chemical structure of peptides, that mimic native epitopes of the antigens involved in the disease pathogenesis. This strategy is particularly promising when post-translational modifications of proteins are involved in antibody recognition. In fact, the use of synthetic peptides allows the introduction of specific chemical modifications to faithfully reproduce the structures that trigger the autoimmune response, in contrast to extracted or recombinant proteins.
