Cell-screening assay and composition
First Claim
1. A multiplexed assay for monitoring the level of transcription of one or more genes in response to one or more potential regulatory stimuli, comprising:
- placing transfected cells in each of a plurality of wells, where the cells in each well are transfected with a genetic construct comprising a selected promoter operatively linked to the coding sequence for an enzyme having a selected enzymatic activity;
adding to the cells in each well a probe selected from a set of probes, where each probe in the set is cleavable by the enzyme into a substrate moiety and an electrophoretic tag (e-tag) reporter having a detection group and a separation modifier that confers on the e-tag reporter, a unique electrophoretic mobility with respect to the e-tag reporters derived from the other probes in the set;
incubating the cells and associated probes while exposing the cells to a potential regulatory stimulus;
obtaining the tags from the cells;
electrophoretically separating the combined tags; and
determining, from the electrophoretic mobility and level of detection group of each separated e-tag reporter, the level of transcriptional response of each cell to the potential regulatory stimulus to which the cells were exposed.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses methods for multiplexed cellular assays. The methods can be used for a simultaneous quantitation of transcription levels from multiple promoters, multiple drugs, or for monitoring effects on multiple protein-protein interactions. These methods make use of reporter gene constructs that couple a single reporter enzyme coding sequence with one or more promoter regions, and a set of probes that are subject to degradation by the reporter enzyme, producing a set of reporters that can be separated from each other by differences in their mobilities. Multiplexed assays are achieved by combining a set of cell populations, wherein each population contains a distinct reporter gene construct and a distinct probe. Various treatments are then carried out on the mixture of cells. Treatments that induce transcription from specific promoters will cause synthesis of the reporter enzyme in that particular cell population, leading to degradation of the corresponding probe. The generation of specific reporters is determined by electrophoresis, or other means of measuring mobility, and is correlated with an effect of the treatment on transcription from a defined promoter.
74 Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A multiplexed assay for monitoring the level of transcription of one or more genes in response to one or more potential regulatory stimuli, comprising:
-
placing transfected cells in each of a plurality of wells, where the cells in each well are transfected with a genetic construct comprising a selected promoter operatively linked to the coding sequence for an enzyme having a selected enzymatic activity;
adding to the cells in each well a probe selected from a set of probes, where each probe in the set is cleavable by the enzyme into a substrate moiety and an electrophoretic tag (e-tag) reporter having a detection group and a separation modifier that confers on the e-tag reporter, a unique electrophoretic mobility with respect to the e-tag reporters derived from the other probes in the set;
incubating the cells and associated probes while exposing the cells to a potential regulatory stimulus;
obtaining the tags from the cells;
electrophoretically separating the combined tags; and
determining, from the electrophoretic mobility and level of detection group of each separated e-tag reporter, the level of transcriptional response of each cell to the potential regulatory stimulus to which the cells were exposed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. The method of 22, for use in screening a test compound for an effect on interaction between a hybrid protein and a designated DNA sequence, which further includes adding the test compound to the cells after the mixing step, and comparing the determined amount of each separated reporter to the amount determined from cells that were not exposed to the test compound, thereby determining the effect of the compound on interaction between any of the hybrid protein and the designated DNA sequence.
-
24. A probe composition for use in monitoring the level of transcription of an enzyme under the control of a plurality of different promoters, comprising a set of probes of the form:
- T-(D, Mj)-S, where
T is an transport moiety that facilitates transport of the probe into a cell, and an transport moiety linkage that is cleavable within the cell to generate a probe by release of the transport moiety, said probe being inhibited from passage out of the cell;
D is a detection group;
Mj is a separation modifier having a unique separation characteristic for each probe j in the set;
S is a substrate for the enzyme, and the action of the enzyme on the probe produces an e-tag reporter of the form (D, Mj)-S′
, where S′
is the residue of the substrate remaining with the e-tag reporter after reaction of S with the enzyme. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- T-(D, Mj)-S, where
Specification