ADVANCELL partners with Gentronix to Offer Genotoxicity Screening Assays to the Cosmetics and Personal Care Sector

ADVANCELL, Advanced in vitro Cell Technologies S.A., providers of customized research and ADMET services to the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry, is delighted to announce that it has partnered with Gentronix, specialists in genotoxicity screening, to offer GreenScreen HC and BlueScreen HC assays via contract service.

GreenScreen HC and BlueScreen HC are accurate and rapid human cell-based assays for determining potential genotoxic liability in ingredients of personal care and cosmetic products, and in new chemical entities in drug development. The assays have a low compound requirement, rapid turnaround time and have been shown to be highly predictive of in vivo genotoxicity and genotoxic carcinogenesis.

Both assays use a p53 competent, human-derived TK6 cell line with either a fluorescent (GFP, Green Fluorescent Protein) or luminescent (Gaussia Luciferase) endpoint, to detect the up-regulation of GADD45a, a key element in the cell’s orchestrated response to DNA damage and genotoxic stress. Both assays can also be conducted in the presence of S9 fraction to detect pro-genotoxins. The GADD45a reporter system provides both high sensitivity and specificity and detects all classes of genotoxins.

Compound requirements are typically just 10 mg or less, with a turnaround time of 10 working days for analysis and comprehensive reporting. The BlueScreen HC assay is especially adept at analysing samples with high autofluorescence, commonly found in cosmetic ingredients, which otherwise confound other assays with fluorescence endpoints.

Dr. Maria-Jesús Zurbano, R&D Director of ADVANCELL’s Alternative Testing Unit highlighted “The recent seventh amendment of the Cosmetics Directive and cessation of animal testing is focussing the industry to look for ever more accurate in vitro approaches to predicting likely in vivo genotoxic liabilities. The GreenScreen HC and BlueScreen HC assays are ideally suited to fulfil this role, and their ability to be deployed early in the discovery process means valuable information on perceived hazards can be acted upon before significant investment in product development.”