UZH reduces use of mice in drug development

(CONNECT) Researchers at the Institutes of Medical Microbiology and Laboratory Animal Science at the University of Zurich(UZH) have succeeded in reducing the number of animals used in antibody tests. According to a press release, the teams led by Markus Seeger and Johannes vom Berg succeeded in testing up to 25 different antibodies simultaneously in a mouse during preclinical tests. This allows antibodies and other protein-based biotherapeutics to be tested on laboratory animals prior to clinical trials. "This speeds up the process and reduces the number of animals required," Johannes vom Berg is quoted as saying in the press release.

For the tests, the teams use antibodies that have already been approved as medicine. In order to identify the reactions of the antibodies from complex tissue and plasma samples taken from the mice, the researchers use protein fragments with which each antibody can be labelled as so-called flycodes. At the same time, the position of the antibodies can also be determined to show that they have reached their destination.

The current study shows that the number of laboratory animals can be reduced with the new technology. Flycodes were also used to determine the properties and data of around 80 synthetic, drug-like biomolecules.

"Flycode technology enables a direct comparison of drug candidates under identical test conditions with minimal use of resources. It should advance preclinical research pipelines much more efficiently in the future," summarises Markus Seeger. ce/ww