From Dr. Arthur Banne, Director of Biomedical Diagnostic Research, Inc. (BDR Labs),

Dear Colleagues:

As Director of Biomedical Diagnostic Research, Inc. (BDR Labs), I am pleased to introduce the Serum Thiol Test and announce that our Laboratory has been licensed to accept blood samples for commercial analysis of serum thiols. BDR Labs, located in Chesterland, Ohio, is the only laboratory in the United States validated and authorized to commercially perform the Serum Thiol Test. It is a simple, efficient, affordable test to monitor human health status by measuring DNA’s ability to repair itself.

For more than 25 years, Ronald W. Pero, Ph.D., Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Lund, Sweden, has been researching procedures used in deteriming DNA repair capacity.  Dr. Pero’s objective was to validate his belief that elevated oxidative stress and its impact of DNA repair are responsible for most age-associated human disorders such as aging, autoimmunity, cancer, diabetes, drug resistance, HIV+/AIDS and immune function.

Dr. Pero and BDR Labs have now proposed a surrogate estimate of DNA repair which requires only a few micro liters of serum or plasma that could be routinely supplied by venal puncture.  The bioassay called the thiol test is based on determining the thiol content of ammonium sulfate precipitated serum proteins. The theory behind the test is that the sulfhdryl/disulfide content of blood proteins is in redox balance with the levels of individual endogenous oxidative stress.  Because the key DNA repair enzyme, PARP, contains 3 cysteine residues in its DNA binding zinc finger amino acid sequence, then oxidation of cysteine to sulfide prevents DNA binding, and thus inhibits PARP from participating in DNA repair. Using this approach our lab has demonstrated that elevated levels of serum thiols were found to be associated with longevity and to successful nutritional anti-oxidant intervention, which in turn strongly supports the thiol test to be a surrogate predictor of DNA repair. Our intention is to use this test as a research tool in the beginning, in order to produce a stronger data base for our reference population and to identify and validate additional clinical applications.  Although there is no clinical indication from the test, such as to specific infection or disease, it does evaluate the underlying biochemical events leading to disease susceptibility, and therefore, can be used any time a health assessment is desired.

I invite you to contact me at (440) 729-6080 or art.banne@bdrlabs.com in order to obtain additional information on the Serum Thiol Test and BDR Labs. My staff and I welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss potential applications for this exciting laboratory development.