High quality research requires high quality materials! Asterand is pleased to offer access to well characterized, high quality isolated human primary cells. A rare and precious resource for understanding molecular disease processes and cellular responses to drugs, Asterand provides aliquots of diseased and normal human chondrocytes, synovial fibroblasts, tumor associated epithelial cell cultures and carcinoma associated fibroblasts. Cells can be provided to the researcher directly, or be used in conjunction with an Asterand Phase ZERO™ study. Human Primary Cells Isolated primary cells are a rare resource for use as in vitro model systems of human disease processes and analysis of drug action in living cells. Asterand now offers access to these precious materials, freshly isolated at our labs in Detroit, MI. Asterand offers five different types of primary cells as standard products. These are chondrocytes from patients with osteoarthritis, synovial fibroblasts from patients with rheumatoid arthritis, tumor epithelial cells and carcinoma associated fibroblasts (see below). Asterand also supplies normal control cells appropriate for the anatomic site and disease state. Primary cells are propagated at Asterand for limited periods of time and cryopreserved after minimal numbers of passages (0-4), allowing cells to maintain their differentiated state. Therefore, these cells behave similarly to how they would if they were still in the body. Cryopreserved cells can be provided as frozen ampoules or in flasks. All cases are provided with Asterand’s standard set of clinical data.
Chondrocytes Chondrocytes, the cells giving rise to cartilage, are involved in the pathophysiology of several joint diseases. Asterand provides chondrocytes dissociated from the diseased cartilage to researchers looking to understand the causes of degenerative joint diseases. In many cases, Asterand can also provide synovial fibroblasts from the same patient.
Synovial fibroblasts Synovial fibroblasts are implicated in several degenerative joint diseases, most notably in rheumatoid arthritis where they are directly involved in the pathogenesis, and osteoarthritis, where they may contribute to the disease state. Asterand provides synovial fibroblasts from the synovium of patients having joint replacement surgery to researchers looking to understand the causes of degenerative joint diseases. In many cases, Asterand can also provide chondrocytes from the same patient. Epithelial cells Asterand provides cell cultures enriched for epithelial cells dissociated from a variety of normal tissues and tumors for research. Primary epithelial cell cultures are considered the most physiologically relevant type of in vitro system for understanding cellular dynamics involved in many diseases. Carcinoma associated fibroblasts Fibroblasts are involved in normal growth, healing, wound repair, and the day-to-day physiological activities of every tissue and organ in the body. When associated with carcinomas, they have been implicated in tumor progression. Asterand provides fibroblasts isolated from freshly resected tumor, as well as fibroblasts from the normal tissue at the margin of the tumor.