This is a question asking for your opinion. I'm wondering which companies and vendors do you think make the best, most reliable Luminex kits available? Or on the other hand, which companies you would suggest to avoid?
I'm mostly curious in your opinions because while there used to be only a few companies that would offer Luminex technology, now there are more and more companies offering kits.
I have personally used a few different vendors to analyze mouse samples, and the vendors were largely chosen based on which analytes we were assessing and which panels were readily available. Some vendors only issue kits with a prepared set of analytes, while others allow you to pick and choose which analytes you're specifically interested in and offer an ability to easily design a custom kit where your cost is based purely on how many analytes you select.
Now, one thing to remember is that the Luminex beads themselves are still under patent and are only availble from Luminex. The difference in the kits comes from the antibodies used that the companies attach to the Luminex beads.
I look forward to hearing your opinions! I also think this thread will serve as a decent reference for anyone looking to perform a Luminex assay, especially as they are quite and expensive investment.
Disclosure: I work for Myriad RBM, who (I'm pretty sure) came up with the multiplex bead technology for the Luminex platform. (Long story...)
In my opinion, I would always go with an established panel. More established QA/QC, and much longer use for validation.
If you want to develop your own panel, I would probably keep the analyte numbers in a single panel to about 10 to 15. You can probably swing 20, but the more analyte you add to a panel, the more complicated it is to keep all the beads/antibody pairs functioning correctly.
Anyway... hope this opinion helps...
Hi Edward,
This is a great thread you start here. The list of suppliers of Luminex services is indeed growing (for reference purposes the current list can be found here: https://www.luminexcorp.com/eu/partners/#research-partners.)
I represent one of these companies, Protatonce Ltd (Protavio Ltd in UK) and I can share some of my experience here.
You are right, the most crucial and defining factor for the performance of these kits is antibody quality. My suggestion is to choose companies that have tested multiple Abs and Ab suppliers to develop their assays. We find that in many cases the best performing antibody pair in an assay (for the sandwich ELISA format assay) consists of Abs from different suppliers. This is especially important since some Luminex kit suppliers are also antibody suppliers.
Readily available or custom kits?
In terms of quality there should be no distinction. For a company that develops assays, custom kits should follow the same strict QC and validation as the readily available ones. So, make sure the company you get your custom kit from performs rigorous testing of the multiplexability of the kit and does not just mix Abs together. Additional testing is what makes custom kits more expensive but they are value for money in the long run especially if they are used in multiple projects.
And most importantly, do not just stick to what companies offer, ask for assays for the targets that are relevant to your project. If there are good Abs available for that target, an assay can be developed.
I hope this is of some help. Looking forward to more responses from actual kit users.
Nikos
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