Development of High Throughput Screening Assays Using Fluorescence Polarization: Nuclear Receptor-Ligand-Binding and Kinase/Phosphatase Assays

Abstract

Fluorescence polarization (FP) has been used to develop high throughput screening (HTS) assays for nuclear receptor-ligand displacement and kinase inhibition. FP is a solution-based, homogeneous technique requiring no immobilization or separation of reaction components. The FP-based estrogen receptor (ER) assay is based on the competition of fluorescein-labeled estradiol and estrogen-like compounds for binding to ER. These studies determined the K_d for this interaction to be 3 nM for ERα and 2 nM for ERβ; IC₅₀ values for 17β-estradiol, tamoxifen, 4-OH-tamoxifen, and diethylstibestrol were determined to be 5.6, 189, 26, and 3.5 nM, respectively. In a screen of 50 lead compounds from a transcriptional activation screen, 21 compounds had IC₅₀ values below 10 μM, with one having an almost 100-fold higher affinity for ERβ over ERα. These data show that an FP-based competitive binding assay can be used to screen diverse compounds with a broad range of binding affinities for ERs. The FP-based protein-tyrosine kinase (PTK) assay uses fluorescein-labeled phosphopeptides bound to anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. Phosphopeptides generated by a kinase compete for this binding. In c-Src kinase reactions, polarization decreased with time as reaction products displaced the fluorescein-labeled phosphopeptide from the anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. The experimentally determined IC₅₀ of AG 1478 was 400 pM, while Genistein did not inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor at similar concentrations. Like the FP-based PTK assay, the protein kinase C (PKC) assay utilizes competition. PKC isoforms had different turnover rates for the peptide substrate. The IC₅₀ for staurosporine was less than 10 nM for all PKC isoforms. Tyrosine phosphatase assays use direct binding rather than competition. Increasing concentrations of T-cell protein-tyrosine phosphatase (TC PTP) increased the rate of dephosphorylation. This change in polarization was dependent on TC PTP and was inhibited by 50,μM Na₃VO₄. The IC₅₀ of Na₃VO₄ was 4 nM for TC PTP. These data demonstrate that a FP-based assay can detect kinase and phosphatase activity. Homogeneous, fluorescent techniques such as FP are now methods of choice for screening many types of drug targets. New HTS instrumentation and assay methods like these make FP a technology easily incorporated into HTS.