Bioo Scientific has launched the D-Pop Kit to facilitate the analysis of DNA from apoptotic bodies. Apoptotic bodies are relatively large cellular fragments derived from cells undergoing “programmed cell death”, a process observed under both normal and pathological conditions. Apoptotic bodies may be shed into body fluids, and are of interest for biomarker discovery as well as for understanding basic biological processes such as cell cycle arrest. The D-Pop Kit is used to capture these DNA-containing particles from cell-free biological samples such as blood serum and plasma, urine, and eukaryotic cell culture media, and to extract DNA from the captured particles. As apoptotic bodies offer a potentially non-invasive source of biomarkers, researchers are studying them to determine their applicability for diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases, especially malignancies.
Using the D-Pop Kit, apoptotic bodies and potentially other large particles are captured from biological fluids by passing them through a filter in a syringe format. The filter is then removed to a microfuge tube and the DNA is extracted using protease digestion followed by protein precipitation and final recovery of the released DNA by solid-phase extraction onto silica membranes. The D-Pop kit also includes Control PCR primers for the hTERT gene to verify concentration and recovery of DNA from the sample.
The D-Pop Kit allows enrichment of DNA from cell-free biological fluids, by up to several orders of magnitude, as determined by comparing qPCR signals in DNA extracted from unfiltered samples, with the signal from material captured on the D-Pop filters.
The D-Pop Kit allows scientists to fractionate apoptotic bodies from cell-free fluids in minutes, and can be used to process high volumes of cell-free fluids. The kit includes reagents for rapid solid-phase extraction of DNA using non-organic reagents and is ideal for field or point-of-care applications.
