Welcome to 3Helix - Distributed in the UK & Europe by Caltag Medsystems
3Helix
3Helix has developed a series of proprietary collagen hybridizing peptides that directly target the damaged collagen molecule. Collagen is the major component of nearly every human tissue, with an essential role in supporting cell growth and tissue formation. Damage to collagen is a strong indication of connective tissue injury, as well as a variety of diseases involving inflammation and abnormal tissue remodelling, such as cancer, myocardial infarction, arthritis, osteoporosis, and fibrosis.
In addition to providing Collagen Hybridising Peptide (CHP) as a research tool for laboratory use in academia and industry, 3Helix is advancing its compounds to enable new pathways to achieving diagnostic and therapeutic objectives.
Products
The collagen hybridizing peptide (CHP) is a novel and unique peptide that specifically binds unfolded collagen chains. By sharing the Gly-X-Y repeating sequence of natural collagen, CHP has a strong capability to hybridize with denatured collagen chains by reforming the triple helical structure, in a fashion similar to DNA fragments annealing to complementary DNA strands. CHP is extremely specific: it has a negligible affinity for intact collagen molecules due to its lack of binding sites, and it is inert towards non-specific binding because of its neutral and hydrophilic nature.
Their new product line, the sulfo-Cy7.5-CHP conjugates, are the perfect tool for in vivo detection of collagen degradation. This new sequence allows the peptide to be directly injected into animals without having to pre-activate them with a heating step. Therefore, the in vivo CHPs will always be in their active form and will not self-hybridize once injected. The conjugation of the peptide to the sulfonated-cyanine 7.5 dye allows near-infrared fluorescence detection, which offers better tissue penetration while minimizing tissue autofluorescence.
| Name | Collagen Hybridising Peptide, 5-FAM Conjugate | Collagen Hybridising Peptide, Cy3 Conjugate | Collagen Hybridising Peptide, Biotin Conjugate | In vivo Collagen Hybridizing Peptides, sulfo-Cy7.5 Conjugates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Codes |
3H-FLU300 3H-FLU60 |
3H-RED300 3H-RED60 |
3H-BIO300 3H-BIO60 |
3H-T-sCy7.5 3H-C-sCy7.5 3H-K-sCy7.5 |
| Size | 300 μg / 60 μg | 300 μg / 60 μg | 300 μg / 60 μg | 8 nmoles (3 doses) This is for a single vial of either the targeted or control peptides. |
| Specialty | Straightforward fluorescence detection in green | Straightforward fluorescence detection in red | Flexible avidin / streptavidin detection options based on needs, allowing non-green fluorescence and HRP methods to avoid background and enhance signal | Single sulfonated-cyanine 7.5 dye per peptide |
| Molecular weight | 2952.01 g/mol | 3191.44 g/mol | 2762.01 g/mol | 3703.1 g/mol |
| Purity | 95% | 90% | 95% | 90% by HPLC |
Features
- More informative, reliable and convenient than zymography, DQ collagen, SHG, and TEM
- High affinity and unparalleled specificity to collagen with essentially no nonspecific binding
- Applicable to all types of collagen from all species, relying on collagen's secondary structure instead of any defined sequence for binding
- Suitable for both frozen and paraffin-embedded sections with no need for antigen retrieval
- A non-antibody approach with no species restrictions against any co-staining antibody
- Small size (2% of IgG by MW) enabling facile tissue penetration and whole specimen staining without sectioning
- Stable in solution under 4 °C, eliminating the need to aliquot for storage
- Now suitable for in vivo studies
| CHP | Collagen antibodies | C1, 2C antibody | In situ zymography | SHG | TEM | |
| Detecting denatured collagen | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| A direct method | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
| Applicable to multiple collagen types | ✔ | |||||
| Applicable to mm-sized tissue samples | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| No control test needed | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| No advanced instrument or specialised skill needed | ✔ |
Applications
- Histopathology - CHP marks tissue damage and remodelling under many pathologic and physiologic events through binding to degraded collagen.
- Collagen Identification - CHP visualises collagen bands of all types in SDSPAGE with high specificity.
- Mechanical Damage - CHP enables measuring and localising mechanical injury to collagenous tissue at the molecular level in almost all possible tissue types, including bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, intervertebral discs, heart valves, blood vessels, skin, cornea and more.
- Tissue Decellularisation - CHP allows direct and quantitative assessment of denatured collagen in the ECM materials decellularized with different detergents and protocols.
Collagen Mimetic Peptides
Prof. Michael Yu describes examples of the vast potential medical applications of CHP, which was previously termed collagen mimetic peptide.