An Automated, High Throughput Method for the Quantification of Endogenous Cellular Kinase Activity

Authors: Brad Larson and Peter Banks, BioTek Instruments, Inc., Winooski, Vermont; Nicolas Pierre, Suzanne Graham, Laurence Jacquemart and Francois Degorce, Cisbio US, Inc., Bedford, Massachusetts

Introduction

Cellular kinases play an important role in relaying signals from activated receptors residing at the cell membrane to the interior of the cell, through signal transduction. The cellular processes in which they are associated include angiogenesis, cell growth, cell migration, and apoptosis. Overexpression of the kinase, or constitutive activity, has also been linked to a number of disease states, including vascular disease, bone disorders, and multiple forms of cancer. Therefore, cellular kinases continue to be an important target for small molecule and large molecule drug development. The ability to screen compounds or antibodies for their antagonistic effects on these signaling molecules, in a rapid and robust way, is critical to current efforts in this area.