What Cyrex Labs Can Do For Healthcare Practices

Today, Healthcare Professionals see many multifaceted, chronic illnesses that can be triggered by lifestyle choices and by an increasingly toxic environment. Cyrex Labs offers advanced clinical tests for immune function and dysregulation.

Environmentally-induced autoimmunity requires genetic susceptibility, a breach of a barrier and an environmental trigger. The Cyrex System™ offers advanced tools to help practitioners identify contributing factors of environmentally-induced autoimmunity. The System includes three categories of tests:

• Essential Barriers (Array 2, Array 20, Array 22)
  
• Environmental Triggers (Array 3X, Array 4, Array 10, Array 10-90, Array 11, Array 12)
  
• Autoimmune and Neuro-Autoimmune Reactivity (Array 5, Array 7X, Alzheimer's LINX™)
  

Essential Barriers function to protect the body from environmental infiltration. When there is a breach in a essential barrier, environmental antigens may infiltrate the body or the brain and trigger autoimmune reactivity to self-tissues.

The number one environmental trigger contributing to autoimmunity is stress. Cyrex is not able to assess physical/emotional stress, however, the Cyrex System includes well-documented environmental triggers, such as dietary proteins and peptides, bacterial endotoxins, chemicals and heavy metals.

Autoantibodies to self-tissue can be found in the blood up to 10 years before the onset of disease. If identified before the patient reaches clinical threshold, lifestyle changes can be implemented to slow down, stop, even reverse autoimmune reactivity and potentially prevent 40 years of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes or heart disease. These biomarkers can also be used for patients already diagnosed with autoimmunity in order to improve the patient's quality of life.

The Cyrex System can be used in a preventive medicine practice, a functional medicine practice and a disease management practice.

Essential barriers are designed to protect the body or nervous system from infiltration by the environment.

Array 2 - Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screen™

Cyrex's enhanced intestinal permeability panel is the only permeability assessment that identifies which route of intestinal damage has occurred. By assessing Actomyosin we can determine if the epithelial cells are degrading. Occludin/Zonulin are tight junction proteins and if those antibodies are upregulated, it is an indication that the tight junctions between the epithelial cells are breaking apart. Knowing what route of damage is happening helps direct the practitioner in where to look for the environmental trigger causing the damage. Without removal of this trigger, a gut healing protocol will not be effective. In addition to tissue damage, Array 2 can identify gut dysbiosis with a bias toward gram-negative bacteria compared to gram-positive bacteria. Serological antibodies to Lipopolysacchrides (LPS) also indicate LPS has gone systemic. This condition has been shown to lead to multiple disorders including liver disease, arterial plaque formation, metabolic disorders and the opening of the blood-brain barrier.

Array 20 - Blood-Brain Barrier Protein Screen™

Cyrex's ground-breaking assessment for blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is a sports medicine practitioner's best friend. The BBB is the physical barrier made up of endothelial cells and extensive tight junctions that separate capillaries from the protected brain and nervous system. Repeated head trauma as seen in football, boxing, soccer and hockey can damage the BBB. By assessing antibodies to BBB proteins practitioners can identify BBB damage which can lead to a number of neurological dysfunctions.

There is significant correlation between the gut and brain barriers. Increased intestinal permeability can bring out increased blood-brain barrier permeability. The reverse is also possible. A patient with traumatic brain injury can develop increased intestinal permeability within hours of the head trauma. Thus, Array 20 and Array 2 are clinical tools that can be used together during patient assessments.

Researchers have shown that 50% of celiac patients do not make antibodies to alpha-gliadin-33, the one protein from wheat on which most other labs rely, and thus get a false negative test result. Instead these patients react to other gluten-family proteins or peptides. Cyrex's exclusive Array 3X - Wheat/Gluten Proteome Reactivity and Autoimmunity Screen™ is currently the most comprehensive assessment tool for wheat/gluten immune reactivity. Array 3X includes multiple gliadins plus glutenin all from the gluten family of proteins. By assessing an array of gluten proteins Cyrex reduces the chances of getting a false negative result.

Going beyond gluten as a trigger of autoimmunity, Cyrex also assesses the lectin portion of wheat. Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA) has an affinity for multiple human tissues. If systemic, WGA can contribute to autoimmune reactivity against a wide variety of self-tissues.

Cyrex's broad net encompasses multiple transglutaminases because not all patients with gluten-reactivity manifests as Celiac disease; some patients develop skin or neurological disorders, so Cyrex includes three tissue transglutaminases. Additionally, Cyrex is the only clinical laboratory assessing antibodies to the gliadin-transglutaminase complex, a biomarker of extensive gut damage.

Although not diagnostic, Array 3X results may be used to help differentiate between possible Celiac disease versus non-celiac gluten-sensitivity.

Array 11 - Chemical Immune Reactivity Screen™ provides clinically relevant information about an individual's immune handling of chemical exposures. Unlike measuring chemical or heavy metal levels in the blood or urine, which give indications of exposures and/or show what is being processed out of the patient, Array 11 detects antibody production against a set of xenobiotics bound to human proteins. This antibody test not only indicates exposure, it, more importantly, reveals immune reactivity against the exposed toxin and possible autoimmune reactivity. When chemicals bind to human tissues, the immune system will respond by producing antibodies to the chemical bound to tissue. The act of chemicals binding to tissues breaks down tissue. The breakdown of tissue by chemicals can produce autoantibodies against the human tissue, which may result in autoimmunity.

Complimentary clinical consulting services are available for Cyrex clients who:

• Need guidance on a case and are unsure where to start within the Cyrex System™
  
• Have Cyrex test results and need assistance with interpretation
  

The clinicians on the Cyrex clinical support team work with Cyrex part-time. The rest of the time, they are in their own practices, facing the same challenges as Cyrex clients. Cyrex clients can take unlimited advantage of clinical consulting services. Utilize the services until comfortable interpreting Cyrex test results without help.

Cyrex clients can access an array of educational services to fit a variety of learning preferences:

• Array Clinical Application Guides
  
• Clinical Antigen Specification Sheets
  
• Recorded webinars
  
• Live lectures at conferences across the country
  
• One-on-one telephone educational in-services
  

To review these educational services, Cyrex account holders simply log in for 24/7 access. Educational in-services are available to healthcare professionals by contacting Cyrex Laboratories, LLC®.

The Phlebotomy Service and Patient Services department help you and your patients with:

• Specimen collection preparation and inquires.
  
• Payment for testing
  
• Locating a contracted draw center or alternative services for the blood collection
  
• General inquires

CLIA, the US federal agency regulating and licensing clinical laboratories, has licensed Cyrex Laboratories, LLC® as a high-complexity clinical lab. CLIA reviews Cyrex's quality assurance programs and protocols and evaluates Cyrex's test validations for lab-developed assays. Practitioners must have the scope of practice to order high-complexity lab tests in order to open an account at Cyrex.

Cyrex collaborates with many draw centers and services across the U.S to assist our clients and their patients with their phlebotomy needs.

• Draw centers and Home Health Services are trained to perform collections and ship specimens to Cyrex Labs for testing
  
• Draw centers operate on a walk-in basis
  
• Home Health Services (Mobile Phlebotomy) appointment.
  

PLEASE NOTE: Draw centers and Home Health Services do not carry Test Requisition forms, Cyrex collections kits or shipping material on-hand. These items are provided to each patient by their healthcare professional.

Draw Center and Home Health Services are not available in the state of New York.