Cytokines are small proteins produced by cells that regulate immune and inflammatory responses to various stimuli, including infection and cancer. Therefore, cytokine screening has significant value in clinical medicine as the cytokine pattern profile provide insight into disease processes that can be used to aid in diagnosis and treatment. The use of protein arrays for cytokine screening combines the advantages of ELISA sensitivity and specificity with the high throughput of microarrays.
To achieve a reliable quantification of cytokines using protein arrays, it is necessary to avoid saturation. However, most of microarray scanners build 16-bit Tiff images, which do not represent biological dynamic range and result in saturation of highly expressed cytokines. The InnoScan scanners are capable of generating 20-bit TIF images, representing a 6-log dynamic range that allows detection of low and highly expressed cytokines on the same scan. Thus, InnoScan scanners obtain intensity values that better represent biological events.
