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.