PerkinElmer has recently introduced 60 new frozen cells validated for cAMP and AequoScreen luminescence assays. They are available in off-the-shelf aliquots of 2.5 and 10 million cells respectively.
Non-sensory G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large family of transmembrane receptors, with over 350 identified members. Their involvement in the regulation of many physiological processes and the possibility to use common assay platforms to develop drugs modulating their response made them successful targets for therapeutic intervention: FDA-approved drugs were developed for 20 % of them, and these drugs represent approximately 40% of all approved drugs.
Functional screens and tests to evaluate GPCRs of therapeutic interest occupy a large share of GPCR assays for drug discovery in recent years. FroZen, g-irradiated cells are a well established product that can be ordered as a consumable, and readily used to perform Aequorin functional assays (AequoZen) or cAMP assays (cAMPZen).
Frozen cells delink lengthy cell culture process from your functional testing of GPCRs and are available for a wide range of target families. Simply thaw a vial as needed and use directly in a functional, cellular assay with previously validated performance. No delays or unexpected cancelling of a scheduled testing.
Optimized and standardized culture conditions eliminate variability in sensitivity and response amplitude between different batches of cells. Plus, pre-validation to our QC criteria (EC50 and window) is done and complete step-by-step protocols are provided.
Ready-to-use, AequoZen and cAMPZen frozen are a convenient, flexible option for the characterization in multiple assays of drugs in development and are a cost effective alternative to perform cellular GPCR selectivity studies on multiple receptors at a time.
Moreover, several G?i-coupled GPCRs cAMPZen can be used together with ERK and MEK AlphaScreen SureFire assays to assay GPCR stimulation of the MAP Kinase pathway. This provides a non-radioactive and positive read-out for G?i-coupled GPCRs.
Date: March 2, 2010
Source: PerkinElmer