Research and Markets has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new
report "Cytogenetics
- Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.
Report deals with cytogenetics in a broader sense rather than the classical
use mainly to describe the chromosome structure and identify abnormalities related
to disease. In the age of molecular biology, it's also referred to as molecular
cytogenetics. Historical landmarks in the evolution of cytogenetics are reviewed
since the first images of chromosomes were made in 1879. The scope of cytogenetics
includes several technologies besides fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH),
comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), and multicolor FISH. Molecular cytogenetics
includes application of nanobiotechnology, microarrays, real-time polymerase
chain reaction (PCR), in vivo imaging, and single molecule detection. Bioinformatics,
described briefly as it plays an important role in analyzing data from many
of these technologies.
FISH remains the single most important technology in cytogenetics. Several
innovations are described of which the most important are single copy FISH,
in vivo FISH (imaging of nucleic acids in living cells) and nanotechnology-based
FISH. The unique character of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) allows these probes
to hybridize to target nucleic acid molecules more rapidly and with higher affinity
and specificity compared with DNA probes. PNA-FISH is more suited for rapid
diagnosis of infections. RNA-FISH and locked nucleic acids (LNAs) are also described.
Microarray/biochip-based technologies for cytogenetics promise to speed detection
of chromosome aberrations examined by FISH. Other important genomic technologies
are whole genome expression array and direct molecular analysis without amplification.
Analysis of single-cell gene expression promises a more precise understanding
of human disease pathogenesis and has important diagnostic applications. Optical
Mapping can survey entire human genomes for insertions/deletions, which account
for a greater proportion of genetic variation between closely-related genomes
as compared to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and are a major cause
of gene defects.
Technologies encompassed within molecular imaging include optical imaging,
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear medicine techniques. Positron emission
tomography (PET) is the most sensitive and specific technique for imaging molecular
pathways in vivo in humans. Cytogenetics can be refined by application of cytogenetics
at single molecule level. Nanotechnology has facilitated the development of
technology for single molecule imaging. Atomic force microscope (AFM) has become
a well-established technique for imaging single biomolecules under physiological
conditions. The scanning probe microscope (SPM) system is emerging as an increasingly
important tool for non-intrusive interrogation of biomolecular systems in vitro
and have been applied to improve FISH. Another example of application of nanobiotechnology
is QD (quantum dot)-FISH probes, which can detect down to the single molecule
level.
The chapter on markets provides a global perspective of the cytogenetics business
in the major markets: US, Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
the UK), and Japan. The total figures for the market are also broken out according
to the technologies and major disease areas in which they are applied. Markets
figure are given for the year 2008 and estimates are made for the years 2013
and 2018. Advantages and limitations of various technologies have been pointed
out throughout the report but this chapter includes SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats) analysis of some of the competing technologies including
the following: conventional FISH, innovative FISH technologies, PCR-based assays,
and single molecule imaging. Unfulfilled needs in cytogenetics market are depicted
graphically. Among various technologies, FISH is most advanced and less opportunities
for further development than single molecule detection, which is in infancy
and has more future potential.