Abstract

The attrition rate of small molecule compounds in standard
drug discovery screening and how to improve translation of new agents to the
clinic have been topics of debate for many years in the drug discovery
field.  One of the main perceived
contributors to this is the lack of physiological relevance of the primary
screening assays in which the agents are identified; either because they are
performed in artificial cell free environments, or because the cells used bear
little resemblance to the pathology of the disease the agents aim to treat.

To address this concern, Charles River have established
relationships with medical centres which have access to primary human tissue
and have developed a suite of assays using control and disease relevant human
primary cell types.  These assays cover a
broad spectrum of cell types and disease areas and, in combination with high
content imaging, can be used to help identify new therapeutic agents and
targets of interest.

Here we highlight the selection of primary cell types in which high content assays have been developed at Charles River, alongside four specific assays which have been used to profile pharmacological standards in primary cells.

The combination of primary human cell types and high content
imaging can be a powerful tool to help improve the relevance of targets and
agents discovered from screening assays.