Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N33/00—Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
  • G01N33/48—Biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Haemocytometers
  • G01N33/50—Chemical analysis of biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Testing involving biospecific ligand binding methods; Immunological testing
  • G01N33/53—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor
  • G01N33/536—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor with immune complex formed in liquid phase
  • G01N33/542—Immunoassay; Biospecific binding assay; Materials therefor with immune complex formed in liquid phase with steric inhibition or signal modification, e.g. fluorescent quenching
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12Q—MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEIC ACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS; COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL OR ENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES
  • C12Q1/00—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions
  • C12Q1/34—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions involving hydrolase

Definitions

• the present invention relates to fluorescence-based assays; and to reagents and methods for measuring enzyme activity, particularly enzyme cleavage assays.
• Assays for measuring enzyme activity are widely employed in the biological and pharmaceutical sciences. With the advent of combinatorial chemistry and high throughput screening, there is a growing need for simple, sensitive and cost-effective assays to screen for potential modulators of enzyme activity. Of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industries are methods for detecting proteolytic enzyme cleavage and phosphate cleavage.
• Fluorescence-based assays offer significant advantages over radiochemical, ELISA, antibody and more traditional techniques for measuring enzyme cleaving activity in terms of simplicity of handling, sensitivity, cost and ease of automation.
• Fluorogenic substrates are routinely used for homogeneous enzyme assays to determine enzyme activity, or the effect of potential drugs on enzyme activity in drug discovery. A number of these enzyme substrates are commercially available, or have been reported in the literature.
• US 4812409 (Babb, B., et al) discloses hydrolysable fluorescent substrates comprising blocked dye moieties derived from phenalenone or benzphenalenone, which when cleaved from the substrate during enzymatic hydrolysis, form fluorescent dyes having a fluorescence emission above about 530nm.
• Substrates responsive to hydrolytic enzymes are also available based on derivatives of fluorescein and rhodamine.
• fluorescein diphosphate is a widely used, non-fluorescent and colourless substrate for alkaline phosphatase (PP2A), which when hydrolysed by this enzyme forms fluorescein (Vieytes M., et al, Anal. Biochem., (1997), 248, 258-64).
• P2A alkaline phosphatase
• substrates based on fluorescein usually incorporate two enzyme cleavable sites, and bi-phasic enzyme kinetics takes place through cleavage, firstly to a mono-substituted fluorescent analogue, then to the free fluorophore.
• Fluorogenic substrates based on fluorinated derivatives of 4-methylumbelliferone have been described for the assay of ⁇ -galactosidase activity and acid phosphatase activity (Gee, K.R., et al, (1999), 273, 41-8).
• Fluorescence-based enzyme substrates that have dyes with useful fluorescence properties that emit in the red or infrared region of the spectrum are nitro-substituted cyanine dye derivatives (EP 1086179 B1: Hamilton, A. et al).
• the present invention describes new fluorogenic enzyme substrates that are substrates for a range of different enzymes and emit at different wavelengths including red and near infra-red. Also provided, are dual enzyme substrates for determining the ratios of two enzyme activities. This is more relevant for in vivo systems, where two separate enzyme substrates cannot be relied upon to measure relative enzyme activities, due to differences in absorption, distribution and excretion properties of individual single enzyme substrates. Finally, also provided are methods for determining enzyme activity, as well as methods of determining a metabolic state either in vitro or in vivo.
• FRET fluorescence resonance energy transfer
• Di is a first dye moiety whose fluorescence properties may be modulated so as to be suitable as a donor or an acceptor in an energy transfer arrangement;
• D 2 is a second dye moiety suitable as an acceptor or a donor in an energy transfer arrangement with said first dye
• L is a linking group comprises 2-200 linked atoms, wherein said linking group optionally includes an enzyme cleavage site;
• M is an enzyme cleavable group chosen to modulate the fluorescence properties of Di.
• D-i and D 2 are linked by linking group L such that, under suitable conditions, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) may take place one with the other.
• FRET fluorescence resonance energy transfer
• FRET is a distance-related process in which the electronic excited states of two dye molecules interact without emission of a photon. See, Forster, T., "Intermolecular Energy Transfer and Fluorescence", Ann. Physik., Vol.2, p.55, (1948).
• FRET fluorescence resonance energy transfer
• the donor and acceptor dye molecules must be in close proximity (typically between 10-100 A), since energy transfer efficiency decreases inversely as the 6 th power of the distance (r) between the donor and acceptor molecules.
• either Di or D 2 may be the donor or acceptor in the FRET relationship such that when Di is the donor molecule, D 2 is the acceptor and vice versa.
• donor it is meant that the dye moiety is capable of absorbing energy from light and emits light at wavelength frequencies which are at least partly within the absorption spectrum of the acceptor.
• acceptor it is meant that the dye moiety is capable of absorbing energy at a wavelength emitted by a donor dye moiety.
• one of the donor or acceptor molecules can be a non-fluorescent (or quenching) fluorophor which is in close proximity to a second fluorescent acceptor or donor fluorophor.
• E ma x ⁇ 2
• R 1 is selected from hydrogen and Ci - C 4 alkyl and m is an integer from 1 to 3.
• linking group L contains from 2-50 linked atoms, having the structure:
• R' is hydrogen or Ci - C alkyl, each p is independently 0 - 10, each r is independently 0 - 10, and s is 1 , 2, or 3.
• linker group L may also comprise a peptide or an oligonucleotide fragment.
• linker When the linker is a peptide or contains a peptide fragment, it may contain from 2-20 natural or unnatural amino acids or a combination thereof. More preferably, L contains 2-12 amino acids and most preferably, 2-8 amino acids.
• linker group L When the linker group L is an oligonucleotide or contains an oligonucleotide fragment, it may contain from 2- 20 nucleoside bases or modified bases.
• the number of bases will be in the range from 4-15; more preferably in the range 4-10.
• the linker may include part of the constituents extending from the fluorochrome. In other words, the linker is attached to the dye chromophore but is not a part of it. In the compounds of the present invention, none of the linkers includes a network of double bonds that permit conjugation of the donor and acceptor. For optimal energy transfer to occur, the transition moments of the donor and acceptor fluorochromes are orientated relative to each other in a non-perpendicular direction, e.g. positioned generally parallel or in tandem relative to each other. With a relatively short linker and optimal orientation, there may be efficient resonance energy transfer even when the spectral overlap becomes small.
• Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention.
• Figure 2 illustrates the synthetic reaction scheme for the preparation of
• Figure 3 shows the UV spectrum of Compound (II) before and after treatment with alkaline phosphatase.
• Figure 4 shows the UV spectrum of Compound (III) before and after treatment with alkaline phosphatase.
• Figure 5 shows the UV spectrum of Compound (IV) before and after treatment with alkaline phosphatase.
• Figure 6 shows the emission spectrum of Compound (II) before and after treatment with Alkaline Phosphatase by excitation at 455 nm and 475 nm.
• Figure 7 shows the emission spectrum of Compound (III) before and after treatment with Alkaline Phosphatase by excitation at 455 nm and 475 nm.
• Figure 8 shows the emission spectrum of Compound (IV) before and after treatment with Alkaline Phosphatase by excitation at 455 nm and 475 nm.
• Di is the donor dye and D 2 is the acceptor dye.
• the emission wavelength maximum ( ⁇ 1 ) of Di is less that the emission wavelength maximum ( ⁇ 2) of D 2 and there is overlap between at least a portion of the emission spectrum of Di with the absorption spectrum of D 2 .
• M is covalently attached to D1
• Di has either no, or substantially no fluorescence emission, or alternatively fluoresces having a fluorescence emission wavelength maximum ⁇ 1 ', where ⁇ 1 ' is less than ⁇ 1. In this state, there is no, or substantially no, overlap between the emission spectrum of Di and the absorption spectrum of D 2 , such that there is no energy transfer between D-i and D 2 .
• the fluorescence properties of Di are caused to be changed to a second fluorescence state such that Di emits fluorescence at the emission wavelength maximum ⁇ 1.
• the emission spectrum of the Di is restored and energy transfer between Di and D can take place.
• an increase in fluorescence emission from D 2 may be detected and/or quantitated.
• D 2 is the donor dye and Di is the acceptor dye.
• the emission wavelength maximum ( ⁇ 2) of D 2 is less that the emission wavelength maximum ( ⁇ 1 ) of Di and there is overlap between at least a portion of the emission spectrum of the D 2 with the absorption spectrum of D-i.
• Di has either no, or substantially no fluorescence emission, or alternatively fluoresces having a fluorescence emission wavelength maximum ⁇ 1 ', where ⁇ 1 ' is greater than ⁇ 1. In this state, there is no, or substantially no, overlap between the emission spectrum of D 2 and the absorption spectrum of Di, such that there is no energy transfer between D 2 and Di.
• the fluorescence properties of Di are caused to be changed to a second fluorescence state such that Di emits fluorescence at an emission wavelength maximum ⁇ 1.
• the emission spectrum of the D 2 and the absorption spectrum of D-i is restored and energy transfer can take place.
• an increase in fluorescence emission from Di may be detected and/or quantitated.
• energy transfer may alternatively take place between the donor dye and two fluorescent states of the acceptor dye.
• the acceptor dye in the first fluorescent state will emit at one wavelength ⁇ 1' and upon cleavage of M will generate a second fluorescence state that emits at a second wavelength ⁇ 1.
• the first and second fluorescence states of Di may differ, not by their respective emission wavelength maxima ⁇ 1 and ⁇ 1 ', but by the intensity of fluorescence emitted by the two states.
• group M comprises a substrate for a cleavage enzyme, preferably selected from the group consisting of a peptidase, a protease, a phosphatase, a dealkylase and a glycosidase.
• a cleavage enzyme preferably selected from the group consisting of a peptidase, a protease, a phosphatase, a dealkylase and a glycosidase.
• M comprises a phosphate ester linkage having one or more phosphate groups covalently bonded to Di and having the structure:
• the substrate is capable of being cleaved by a phosphatase such as bacterial alkaline phosphatase, or acid phosphatase, to yield an alcohol derivative of dye Di, and inorganic phosphate.
• Di is caused to be switched from a first fluorescent state to a second fluorescent state, thereby enabling transfer of excitation energy between donor and acceptor moieties.
• a phosphatase such as bacterial alkaline phosphatase, or acid phosphatase
• the phosphate ester may be a pre-synthesised substrate or may be generated in situ by chemical hydrolysis or by an enzyme catalysed nucleoside monophosphate or nucleoside polyphosphate transfer from a terminal- phosphate labelled nucleoside polyphosphate having the structure:
• R 1 and R 2 are independently selected from H and OH;
• R a is a nucleoside base selected from adenine, guanine cytosine, thymine, uracil, hypoxanthine and xanthine; and
• k is an integer from 1 to 6.
• M comprises at least one peptide linkage (-CO-NH- ) covalently bonded to Di.
• M typically has the structure: H R b — C _ N — II o wherein R b is a residue of a peptide or protein.
• R b is a residue of a peptide or protein.
• M comprises a glycosidic linkage and is a substrate for a glycosidase such as -glycosidases (e.g., -amylase), ⁇ - glycosidases (e.g. ⁇ -glucosidase) and has the structure:
• a glycosidase such as -glycosidases (e.g., -amylase), ⁇ - glycosidases (e.g. ⁇ -glucosidase) and has the structure:
• M comprises an ether linkage that is a substrate for a dealkylase and having the structure:
• R c is Ci - C 2 o straight or branched chain alkyl.
• group M further comprises a cell membrane permeabilising group, which may be selected from groups such as ether, ester, amide and phospho-diester groups of formula:
• R d is Ci - Cio straight or branched chain alkyl, either unsubstituted, or substituted with one or more halogen atoms, phenyl, either unsubstituted or substituted with one or more halogen atoms, or a peptide chain.
• halogen atoms may be selected from fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine.
• membrane permeabilising groups include acetate ester, pivaloyl ester, acetoxymethyl ester, pentafluorobenzyl ether, pentafluorobenzyl amide, pentafluorobenzyl ester, phenyl phosphate, perfluoro-(C ⁇ - Ce) alkyl ethers, perfluoro-(C ⁇ - C ⁇ ) alkyl esters and perfluoro- (C ⁇ - C 6 ) alkyl amide groups.
• Such groups are substrates for, and are hydrolysed by dealkylases, esterases such as proteases and phospho- diesterases as are found in cells. The skilled person will appreciate the variability of cell permeability of the reporter molecule and will be able to test for the same.
• the donor dye may be selected from coumarin dyes, benzocoumarin dyes, acridone dyes, xanthine dyes, phenoxazine dyes, rhodamine dyes, merocyanine dyes and cyanine dyes, preferably xanthine dyes and cyanine dyes, wherein the donor dye is capable of transferring energy to the acceptor dye.
• the acceptor dye may be selected from coumarin dyes, benzocoumarin dyes, acridone dyes, xanthine dyes, phenoxazine dyes, rhodamine dyes, merocyanine dyes and cyanine dyes, wherein the acceptor dye is capable of energy transfer with the donor dye.
• the donor dye is a xanthine dye or a cyanine dye and the acceptor dye is a rhodamine or a cyanine dye.
• at least one of said donor and acceptor dye moiety is a cyanine dye.
• the donor dye is a xanthine dye and the acceptor dye is a rhodamine dye.
• Suitable xanthine dyes include but are not limited to fluorescein and its derivatives, such as 5-carboxyfluorescein, 6-carboxyfluorescein and 6- carboxy-4',5'-dichloro-2',7'-dimethoxyfluorescein.
• Suitable cyanine dyes include but are not limited to CyA (3-( ⁇ - carboxypentyl)-3'-ethyl-5,5'-dimethyl oxacarbocyanine), Cy2 (3-(s- carboxypentyl)-3'-ethyl-oxa-carbocyanine), Cy3 (3-( ⁇ -carboxypentyl)-1 '-ethyl- 3,3,3', 3'-tetramethyl-5,5'-disulphonato-carbocyanine), Cy3.5 (3-( ⁇ - carboxypentyl)-1 '-ethyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-4,5,4',5'-(1 ,3- disulphonato)dibenzo-carbocyanine), Cy5 (1-( ⁇ -carboxypentyl)-1 '-ethyl- 3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-5,5'-disulphonato-dica
• Suitable rhodamine acceptor dyes include but are not limited to: 5- carboxyrhodamine (Rhodamine 110-5), 6-carboxyrhodamine (Rhodamine 110-6), 5-carboxyrhodamine-6G (R6G-5 or REG-5), 6-carboxyrhodamine-6G (R6G-6 or REG-6), N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-5-carboxyrhodamine, N,N,N',N'- tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine (TAMRA or TMR), 5-carboxy-X-rhodamine and 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine (ROX).
• the fluorescent labelled enzyme substrates according to the first aspect may also include water solubilising constituents attached thereto for conferring a hydrophilic characteristic to the compound. They are preferably attached to aromatic ring systems of the donor or acceptor dye moieties.
• the linking group L may contain the water solubilising group. Suitable solubilising constituents may be selected from the group consisting of amide, sulphonate, sulphate, phosphate, quaternary ammonium, hydroxyl, guanidinium and phosphonate. Sulphonate or sulphonic acid groups attached directly to the aromatic ring of the donor and/or acceptor fluorochromes are particularly preferred. /
• the reporter is a non-fluorescent energy transfer complex containing a quenched fluorescein donor dye and a Cy5, a Cy3 and a rhodamine acceptor dye respectively, the fluorescein moiety having an enzymatically cleavable phosphate group attached thereto.
• the phosphate group may be cleaved by the action of a phosphatase, thereby restoring fluorescence of the donor dye upon excitation of the fluorescein at its excitation wavelength. Detection of the cleavage event and measurement of phosphatase activity may be achieved by detecting fluorescence emission at the emission wavelength of the acceptor dye.
• the reporter is a non-fluorescent energy transfer complex containing a quenched fluorescein donor dye and a Cy5 and rhodamine acceptor dye respectively, the fluorescein moiety having a nucleoside polyphosphate moiety attached thereto.
• Action of a nucleosidyl phosphotransferase generates a phosphatase substrate in situ, which in the presence of phosphatase, undergoes phosphate removal.
• the fluorescence of the fluorescein donor dye is restored. Subsequent energy transfer to the acceptor dye generates a red-shifted emission.
• L is a cleavable linker and includes an enzyme cleavable group P which is different from the enzyme substrate group M.
• P may be selected from groups such as ether, ester, amide and phospho- diester groups. Such groups are substrates for, and are cleaved in aqueous buffer media by respectively, dealkylases, esterases such as proteases and phospho-diesterases.
• D 2 emits at a first emission wavelength ⁇ 2 when attached to L, and at a second emission wavelength ⁇ 2', once D 2 is cleaved from L, where ⁇ 2 ⁇ ⁇ 2'.
• the reporter compounds of this embodiment are useful for measuring the relative activity of two enzymes in in vivo and cellular systems, where it is difficult to ensure equal delivery of two separate enzyme substrates. It is also possible for Di to emit at a first emission wavelength ( ⁇ 1 ) when attached to M and at a different wavelength ( ⁇ 1') when M is cleaved, where ⁇ 1 ⁇ hV.
• Example (VII) shows such a dual enzyme reporter for an aryl sulfatase and Cathepsin G activity, which is potentially useful in detecting inflammation.
• no enzyme activity there is a weak emission at 610 nm when the compound of Example (VII) is excited at 360 nm. No emission is observed with excitation at 645 nm.
• sulfatase activity only, strong emission is observed at 660 nm with excitation at 645 nm and weak emissions at 450 nm and 660 nm when excited at 360 nm.
• MMP-2 and MMP-9 have been targeted for tumor detection and treatment, for example, in melanomas, expression of these proteins varies significantly. While in very aggressive tumors, MMP-9 is expressed at high levels, no over-expression is observed in early stage tumors. Benign tumors show no MMP-9 activity. Similarly, MMP-2 activity also varies significantly with invasive tumors showing higher activity. Although this is true for the majority of patients, it is not true for all. Therefore, measuring only MMP-2 or MMP-9 activity may lead to misdiagnosis of an aggressive tumor as being benign. For osteoporosis, Cathepsin K has been identified as a therapeutic target as it is over-expressed in osteoclasts; however this activity is also observed during normal bone turnover not associated with osteoporosis.
• a method for determining the activity of an enzyme acting on a substrate molecule comprising a compound of formula (I), wherein D , D 2 and L are hereinbefore defined; and M comprises a substrate for a cleavage enzyme.
• the method comprises the steps of: i) measuring the fluorescence intensity of the fluorescently labelled substrate; ii) combining an enzyme whose activity is to be determined with the substrate under conditions to cause cleavage of M from Di; and iii) measuring a change in fluorescence intensity of the fluorescent label following the combination of step ii); wherein the change in fluorescence intensity of the fluorescent label is used to determine the activity of the enzyme.
• the compound of formula (I) is a substrate for the enzyme whose activity is to be determined, wherein M comprises an enzyme cleavable group preferably selected from a phosphate ester linkage, at least one peptide linkage, an ether linkage and a glycosidic linkage as hereinbefore defined.
• the enzyme is a hydrolase enzyme selected from the group consisting of phosphatase, peptidase, protease, dealkylase and glycosidase.
• the enzyme is a phosphatase, selected from the E.C. Class 3.1 , including PTPase, PPTase-2A, PPTase-2B, or PPTase-2C. Examples are: tyrosine phosphatase, PP1 and PP-2B (serine/threonine phosphatase),
• the enzyme is a peptidase selected from the E.C. Class 3.4.
• examples include, but are not limited to, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), caspase, cathepsin D, chymotrypsin, pepsin, subtilisin, proteinase K, elastase, neprilysin, thermolysin, asp-n, matrix metallo proteinase 1 to 20, papain, plasmin, trypsin, enterokinase and urokinase.
• ACE angiotensin converting enzyme
• caspase cathepsin D
• chymotrypsin cathepsin D
• pepsin pepsin
• subtilisin proteinase K
• elastase neprilysin
• thermolysin asp-n
• papain plasmin
• trypsin enterokinase
• the enzyme is a glycosidase, preferably selected from the group consisting of E.C. Class 3.2, for example ⁇ -amylase, ⁇ -amylase, glucan 1 ,4- ⁇ -glucosidase, cellulase, endo-1 ,3- ⁇ -glucanase, oligo- 1 ,6-glucosidase and lysozyme.
• E.C. Class 3.2 for example ⁇ -amylase, ⁇ -amylase, glucan 1 ,4- ⁇ -glucosidase, cellulase, endo-1 ,3- ⁇ -glucanase, oligo- 1 ,6-glucosidase and lysozyme.
• the enzyme is a dealkylase, for example different isozymes of cytochrome P-450.
• enzymes such as peroxidases, ⁇ -lactamase, nitroreductase, etc. may also be used with appropriate M or linker structures.
• Fluorogenic substrates for these enzymes are well known, e.g. Amplex red, a fluorescein and 6-chloro-7-hydroxy coumarin substituted cephalosporin, and nitrocyanines, such as those described in (EP 1086179 B1 , Hamilton, A. et al). Similar structures may be incorporated in the compositions described above.
• Assays may be performed according to the present invention in high throughput screening applications, including those in which test agents are screened for their inhibitory effects, potentiation effects, agonistic, or antagonistic effects on the enzyme reaction under investigation.
• a method of screening for a test agent whose effect upon the activity of an enzyme in cleaving a substrate is to be determined. The method comprises the steps of: (a) performing the method according to the second aspect in the presence and in the absence of the test agent; and (b) determining the activity of the enzyme in the presence and in the absence of the agent; wherein a difference between the activity of the enzyme in the presence and in the absence of said agent is indicative of the effect of the test agent on the activity of the enzyme.
• the screening can be carried out by performing the method in the presence of a test agent and comparing the value of the activity of the enzyme with a control value for the enzyme activity in the absence of the test agent.
• the control value may be conveniently stored electronically in a database or other electronic format.
• a method of determining relative activities of two enzymes acting on a substrate molecule comprising a compound of formula (I), wherein Di is a first dye moiety and D 2 is a second dye moiety as hereinbefore defined, M comprises a substrate for a first cleavage enzyme and L contains an enzyme cleavable group P which is substrate for a second cleavage enzyme different from the first cleavage enzyme.
• the method comprises the steps of: i) measuring the fluorescence emission intensity of the fluorescently labelled substrate; ii) combining the first and second enzymes with the substrate under conditions to cause cleavage of M from Di and D 2 from Di; iii) measuring the fluorescence emission intensities of the first and second dye moieties following the combination of step ii); and iv) utilising a change in fluorescence intensities of the first and second dye moieties to determine the relative activities of the enzymes.
• the first and second enzymes may be combined either sequentially, in either order or, alternatively, simultaneously with the substrate molecule.
• the first and second enzymes are selected from the group consisting of phosphatase, peptidase, protease, dealkylase and glycosidase, as hereinbefore described.
• the method according to the third aspect of the invention may also be used to determine the effect of a test agent on the relative activities of two enzymes acting on a substrate molecule, in which the combining step ii) is performed in the absence and in the presence of the test agent. A difference between the relative activities of the first and second enzymes in the presence and in the absence of said agent is indicative of the effect of the test agent on the relative activities of the first and second enzymes.
• the test agent may be, for example, any organic or inorganic compound such as a synthetic molecule or a natural product (e.g. peptide, oligonucleotide), or a may be an energy form (e.g. light or heat or other forms of electromagnetic radiation).
• Inhibitors of enzyme activity can be detected using the method according to the preferred embodiment; for example, the known inhibitor pepstatin A can be readily shown to inhibit cathepsin D enzyme activity using the method of the invention. Thus, in the presence of 12 nM of pepstatin A, cathepsin D activity is some 5 fold less than in the absence of the inhibitor.
• the difference between the activity of the enzyme in the absence and in the presence of the agent is normalised, stored electronically and compared with a reference value.
• the difference in activity may be stored as a percentage inhibition (or percentage stimulation) on an electronic database and this value compared with the corresponding value for a standard inhibitor of the enzyme in question.
• test agents meeting a certain pre-determined threshold e.g. as being as effective or more effective than the reference compound may be selected as being of interest for further testing.
• an assay for the detection of proteolytic enzyme activity may be configured as follows.
• a reaction mixture is prepared by combining an enzyme and a fluorescent energy transfer reporter compound according to formula (I), wherein group M comprises a proteolytic enzyme cleavage site.
• the assay is suitably performed in the wells of a multiwell plate, e.g. a microtitre plate having 24, 96, 384 or higher densities of wells, e.g. 1536 wells.
• the reaction may be performed with the enzyme substrate initially present in an aqueous assay buffer, suitably, 10mM MOPs, 50mM Tris or 50mM HEPES, containing 5 mM MgCI 2 .
• a test agent such as a known or a putative inhibitor, may be optionally included in the reaction mixture.
• the reaction is allowed to proceed to completion, progress being monitored by observing the steady state fluorescence emission due to the fluorescent acceptor dye, which is recorded using a spectrofluorimeter.
• the assay may be performed under "stopped" conditions in which the reaction is allowed to proceed for a predetermined time and then terminated with a stop reagent, normally an inhibitor of the enzyme activity, which is often non-specific.
• a stop reagent is EDTA, which is used to sequester metal ions that are normally required for enzymatic activity.
• the methods according to the present invention may also be employed to measure the activity of an enzyme acting on a substrate in a cellular environment, the substrate comprising a compound according to the present invention.
• the method comprises, before step i) the step of adding the substrate to one or more cells in a fluid medium.
• cultured cells are incubated with the FRET-coupled enzyme substrate at a concentration of 0.1 to 100 ⁇ M in a suitable cell culture medium under conditions suitable for cell growth and for a time which may range from 0.5 to 24 hours.
• Cells are cultured according to standard cell culture techniques, e.g. cells are cultured in a suitable vessel in a sterile environment at 37°C in an incubator containing a humidified 95% air/5% C0 2 atmosphere.
• There are established protocols available for the culture of diverse cell types. See for example, Freshney, R.I., Culture of Animal Cells: A Manual of Basic Technique, 2 nd Edition, Alan R.Liss Inc. 1987).
• the substrate When the substrate is required to be introduced into cells grown in cell or tissue culture, the substrate is simply added to the culture medium. Cells may also be contacted with the substrate in the presence of a test agent whose effect on the enzyme activity is to be determined.
• the detection step provides a measurement of the effect of the test agent on the activity of the enzyme under investigation. Measurements of fluorescence intensity may be made using instruments incorporating photo-multiplier tubes as detectors. Changes in fluorescence intensity may be measured by means of a charge coupled device (CCD) imager (such as a scanning imager or an area imager) to image all of the wells of a microtitre plate.
• CCD charge coupled device
• the LEADseekerTM system features a CCD camera allowing fluorescence imaging of high density microtitre plates in a single pass. Imaging is quantitative and fast, and instrumentation suitable for imaging applications can now simultaneously image the whole of a multiwell plate.
• the assay may be performed under continuous measurement of the fluorescence of the substrate. In this format, the intensity of the fluorescent labelled substrate changes continuously. The labelled substrate does not need separation from the product of the enzymatic reaction and thus, a time-course of the reaction may be obtained, allowing kinetic studies to be performed in real time.
• test kit for measuring the activity of at least one enzyme, the test kit comprising one or more different enzyme substrates, each of said substrates comprising a compound of formula (I), wherein Di, D 2 , L are hereinbefore defined and M comprises a substrate for a cleavage enzyme.
• the test kit further comprises at least one or more different enzymes each enzyme specific for a different said substrate.
• the compounds of formula (I) may be prepared by covalent attachment of the fluorescence energy transfer moiety, D-i - L - D 2 , to group M wherein
• Di, D 2 , M and L are hereinbefore defined, using direct chemical coupling methods that are well known to the skilled person.
• the compounds of the present invention may be prepared by de novo synthetic methods as illustrated in the examples.
• Group M may be initially attached to Di to form the intermediate compound, M-D , followed by attachment of D 2 via linker group L.
• the linker group L may be conveniently attached to M-D 1 prior to covalent attachment of D 2 , or alternatively L may be pre-attached to D 2 .
• Peptide, protein and oligonucleotide substrates for use in the invention may be labelled at a terminal position, or alternatively at one or more internal positions.
• Thymidine-5'-triphosphate (triethylammonium salt, 100 ⁇ mol) was co- evaporated with tributylamine (400 ⁇ mol) in anhydrous DMF (2x2 ml) and finally redissolved in anhydrous DMF (2 ml).
• the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2.5 hr and left in a refrigerator overnight.
• the mixture was concentrated to dryness in vacuo and purified by anion exchange chromatography.
• This mixture was treated with snake venom phosphodiesterase (SVD) and alkaline phosphatase overnight (to remove any unreacted TTP) and purified further by reverse phase chromatography using 0.1 M TEAB (buffer A) to 25% acetonitrile in 0.1 M TEAB.
• 0.1 M TEAB buffer A
• Two major peaks were collected and analyzed by HPLC-MS. The first major peak gave mass at 931.8 and the second peak gave mass at required 932.8.
• UV and fluorescence spectra of phosphorylated (Compounds (II), (III) and (IV)) and non-phosphorylated dyes (Compounds (VIII), (IX) and (X)) are shown in Figures 2-8. UV spectra clearly show the appearance of peak(s) at about 472 nm upon treatment with alkaline phosphatase.

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• Investigating Or Analysing Biological Materials (AREA)
• Immobilizing And Processing Of Enzymes And Microorganisms (AREA)
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• 2005
  • 2005-04-18 AT AT05736155T patent/ATE428113T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2005-04-18 WO PCT/US2005/013141 patent/WO2005108994A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2005-04-18 US US11/568,193 patent/US20090162838A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2005-04-18 CN CN2005800199847A patent/CN1985171B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2005-04-18 DE DE602005013757T patent/DE602005013757D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2005-04-18 ES ES05736155T patent/ES2324721T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
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• 2011
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