INDIGO Biosciences Announces Addition of TPOR Assay to Pre-Clinical Portfolio

State College, PA (10 August 2021) – INDIGO Biosciences, the recognized industry leader in nuclear receptor research, has expanded its pre-clinical portfolio to include the Thrombopoietin Receptor (TPOR). Responsible for platelet production, TPOR is primarily used in developing treatments related to familial aplastic anemia and blood cancers, as well as wound healing. This cell-based in vitro assay provides discovery researchers with the ability to quickly make critical decisions about potential drug and treatment candidates before moving into trials.

“The addition of the Thrombopoietin Receptor marks an expansion in INDIGO’s ability to assist researchers in understanding the role of platelet development and maintenance, particularly as it relates to drug development,” says Dr. Jack Vanden Heuvel, INDIGO’s Chief Scientific Officer. “As with our recent addition of EPOR, TPOR is critical to both anemia and oncology research, and we remain committed to giving scientists access to critical information at the earliest stages of their discovery process.”

Produced primarily in the liver and kidneys, TPOR is a type 1 cytokine that serves as a primary physiological regulator of megakaryocytes and platelet production, as well as overseeing the maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells. Mutations in TPOR can lead to myelofibrosis, a rare type of blood cancer in which bone marrow is replaced by fibrous scar tissue. TPOR also plays a key role in the development of essential thrombocythemia, a slow growing blood cancer caused by an overproduction of platelets.

While mutations of the TPOR can have negative consequences, it’s primary role in platelet production also makes it an important therapeutic target for cancers in which the body stops properly producing the platelets needed to assist in blood clotting during chemotherapy. In lung cancer and gynecological cancer chemotherapy trials, administration of TPO raised base level platelet counts, in some situations reducing the need for platelet transfusions. Unlike most other cytokine receptors that exhibit short half-lives, TPOR is long-lived both at the cell surface and in intracellular stores, making it ideal for longer-term treatments.

In vitro assays, such as those offered by INDIGO, provide important early indications of a compound or antibody’s potential for progressing to further development and clinical testing. INDIGO’s assays allow researchers to definitively determine what receptors are affected to ensure the selectivity of target compounds, a key piece of information necessary to proceed with development. The new TPOR reporter assay is available both as a screening service or as an all-inclusive kit.