AlphaScreen assays

A more recently introduced format is the AlphaScreen assay. The assay principal behind this technology has previously been described above. In the kinase format a biotinylated peptide is bound to a streptavidin donor bead, and a phopshospecific antibody is bound to the acceptor bead. When the substrate is phosphorylated, the beads come in close proximity and a signal is generated. An example using the assay for the detection of inhibitors of serine kinases is presented by Von Leo-prechting [26]. 

Flashplate and AlphaScreen assays (Perkin Elmer Life and Analytical Sciences Walthan, MA). 

An AlphaScreen assay is generally conducted in a 384-well plate in a total volume of 25 ]xL, but can be scaled down to the 1536-well format with assay volumes of 5 pL. Since the donor beads are light sensitive, the assay has to be performed under dimmed light After all components have been added, the luminescence signal is measured, usually after an incubation of 1 h. 

The first consideration when setting up an AlphaScreen assay is the choice of an assay format In most cases, the decision will depend on the interaction partners under investigation and on the biological tools available for their detection. The interaction partners can be coupled to the beads directly via reductive amination of reactive aldehyde groups, similar to the immobilization on a Biacore sensor chip (see above). The usefulness of this approach is limited by the reaction conditions, which may not be appropriate for maintaining the biologically active conformation of the biomolecule. Therefore the biomolecule of interest is usually not coupled to the beads directly, but instead captured via an antibody, also preventing steric hindrance. While not strictly necessary, it is often convenient to use a biotinylated molecule which can be captured by streptavidin-coated donor beads. 

In the so-called direct assay format, a biotinylated component binds to an antibody directly coupled to acceptor beads or to a protein captured by this antibody (Figure 8.4A). In the indirect assay format, the antibody used for capturing the biomolecule is in turn bound by a secondary antibody or by Protein A conjugated to the acceptor beads. In principle, any method capable of capturing the interaction partners to donor and acceptor beads, respectively, is suitable for setting up an AlphaScreen assay. 

Figure 20.3 Schematic representation of (a) an AlphaScreen assay and (b) the counter screen for the identification of false positive hits. See text for details.

There are cAMP assays that can be measured using a variety of techniques [35], including HTRF (CisBio) [36], bioluminescence (cAMP-Glo, Promega) [37], TR-FRET (CisBio) [38], LANCE [39], Alphascreen (Perkin Elmer) [40] and Enzyme Fragment Complementation (EFC) [41] (Hithunter, DiscoverX). This review will focus on the LANCE, the TR-FRET and ECF assays as they are the most used in our laboratories. 

The truth most likely lies somewhere in between. Bender [67] published the most quantitative study to date on the success of HTS at Novartis. Several conclusions could be drawn. Particular target types and assay technologies have a great impact on screening success, and this was not always correlated to the number of identifying hits in the HTS runs. For assay formats used a minimum of five times, LC/MS readouts succeed 83% of the time, followed by FP assays, which succeed in 72% of the cases. TR-FRET showed a success rate of 70%, with FLIPR assays (61%), fluorescence intensity readouts (59%), and AlphaScreen (60%) performing... 

Parameters Radiometric proximity assays (SPA, Flashplate) Fluorescence polarization (FP) Time- resolved fluorescence (HTRF) Amplified luminescence (ALPHAScreen) Enzyme (p-galactosidase) complementation Electrochemilumines cence... 

AlphaScreen (amplified luminescent proximity homogeneous assay) PerkinElmer Life Sciences Donor beads produce singlet oxygen that induces fluorescence in proximal acceptor beads bead-bead proximity results from engagement of binding partners immobilized on the two bead types... 

In order to avoid the described problems, antibody-based assays have been developed. As mentioned above, usually a primary antibody recognizes the modification, which in turn is then quantitated. One of these approaches is based on the technology of AlphaScreen (Amplified luminescent Proximity Homogeneous Assay) [51, 52], also known as luminescent oxygen channeling immunoassay (LOCI) [53], a method that can be used to study protein-protein interactions in general. In this case the enzymatic transfer of acetyl groups to a histone peptide is determined. 

Spannhoff A., Valkov, V., Trojer, P., Bauer, I., Brosch, G. and Jung, M. (2009) In-vitro screening assays for histone acetyl- and methyltransferases using Alphascreen. 

Kinase or phosphatase assays based on the AlphaScreen principle are similar to TR-FRET assays in that they usually require a biotinylated substrate peptide and an anti-phosphoserine or tyrosine antibody. These two reagents are sandwiched between biotin and protein A-functionalized acceptor and donor beads. A kinase assay would show an enzyme-dependent increase in antibody binding (and thus signal) over time and a phosphatase assay would show an enzyme-dependent decrease in antibody binding over time. In some cases, the phosphorylation of an epitope will block the antibody binding and thus a phosphatase assay in principle can be constructed as a signal increase assay (Von Leoprichting and Kumpf, 2004 Warner et al., 2004). 

Trends in biochemical screening assays seem to favor the use of multi-function PMT-based readers that allow for various MTP well densities (96, 384, and 1536 well plates), can handle a number of readout formats such as prompt fluorescence, luminescence, fluorescence polarization, time-gated fluorescence, and luminescent oxygen channeling or AlphaScreen. Examples of this type including the Perkin Elmer EnVision, TECAN-Ultra, BMG FluoStar, and LJL Analyst GT can be employed for a variety of the assay technologies described above. 

Von Leoprechting, A. et al. 2004. Miniaturization and validation of a high-throughput serine kinase assay using the AlphaScreen platform. J. Biomol. Screen. 9, 719-725. 

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