On April 3, 2020 Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) ("Horizon", "the Company" or "the Group"), a global leader in the application of gene editing and gene modulation for cell line engineering, reported the addition of an arrayed CRISPR knockout screening service for primary human B cells to its cell-based screening services (Press release, Horizon Discovery, APR 3, 2020, View Source [SID1234556128]).
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Primary human cells, which are cells that are freshly isolated from donors, are known to be difficult to study in the lab. However, working with these cells brings scientists one step closer to healthy or diseased micro-environments, enabling them to better understand disease etiology and therapeutic mechanisms, and thereby advance drug discovery and development programs.
Horizon has already applied its gene editing and cell culture expertise to maintain the viability of primary human T cells to enable functional genomic screens and has been delivering data-rich information to customers working in drug discovery and development. The new B cell screening service, the first of its kind in the market, will enable researchers to identify genes that affect the function of B cells and examine how this impacts other immune cell types, particularly in infectious diseases, cancer, and auto-immune disorders, such as COVID-19, Burkitt’s lymphoma and multiple sclerosis respectively.
Terry Pizzie, CEO, Horizon Discovery said: "The interest in harnessing the immune system for effective therapies continues to grow, with the global cell therapy market predicted to reach $8.21bn by 2025*. Expanding our services to encompass screening of both primary T and B cells is another example of our commitment to apply decades of gene editing experience in support of drug discovery and development for the treatment of human disease."