Development of MALDI MS peptide array for thrombin inhibitor screening

The development of in situ methods for the analysis and visualization of enzyme activity is of paramount importance in drug discovery, research, and development. In this work, the functionalized and array patterned indium tin oxide (ITO) glass slides were fabricated by non-covalent immobilization of amphipathic phospholipid-tagged peptides encompassing the thrombin cleavage site on steric acid-modified ITO slides. The fabricated peptide arrays provide 60 spots per slide, and are compatible with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) measurement, free matrix peak interference, and tolerance to repeated aqueous washing. The peptide arrays were used for the investigation of thrombin activity and screening for its potential inhibitors. The thrombin activity and its Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) for immobilized peptide substrate was determined using developed MALDI MS peptide array. To investigate the applicability and effectiveness of peptide arrays, the anti-thrombin activity of grape seed proanthocyanidins with different degrees of polymerization (DP) was monitored and visualized. MALDI MS imaging results showed that the fractions of proanthocyanidins with the mean DP of 4.61-6.82 had good thrombin inhibitory activity and their half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) were below 10 μg/mL. Therefore, the developed peptide array is a reliable platform for the discovery of natural thrombin inhibitors.

An oxime-based glycocluster microarray

Carbohydrate microarrays represent powerful tools to study and detect carbohydrate-binding proteins, pathogens or cells.

MALDI-MS Patterning of Caspase Activities and Its Application in the Assessment of Drug Resistance

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been widely used for enzyme activity assays. Herein, we propose a MALDI-MS patterning strategy for the convenient visual presentation of multiple enzyme activities with an easy-to-prepare chip. The array-based caspase-activity patterned chip (Casp-PC) is fabricated by hydrophobically assembling different phospholipid-tagged peptide substrates on a modified ITO slide. The advantages of amphipathic phospholipids lead to high-quality mass spectra for imaging analysis. Upon the respective cleavage of these substrates by different caspases, such as caspase-1, -2, -3, and -8, to produce a mass shift, the enzyme activities can be directly evaluated by MALDI-MS patterning by m/z-dependent imaging of the cleavage products. The ability to identify drug-sensitive/resistant cancer cells and assess the curative effects of anticancer drugs is demonstrated, indicating the applicability of the method and the designed chip.

Simultaneous inhibition assay for human and microbial kinases via MALDI-MS/MS

Selective inhibition of one kinase over another is a critical issue in drug development. For antimicrobial development, it is particularly important to selectively inhibit bacterial kinases, which can phosphorylate antimicrobial compounds such as aminoglycosides, without affecting human kinases. Previous work from our group showed the development of a MALDI-MS/MS assay for the detection of small molecule modulators of the bacterial aminoglycoside kinase APH3'IIIa. Herein, we demonstrate the development of an enhanced kinase MALDI-MS/MS assay involving simultaneous assaying of two kinase reactions, one for APH3'IIIa, and the other for human protein kinase A (PKA), which leads to an output that provides direct information on selectivity and mechanism of action. Specificity of the respective enzyme substrates were verified, and the assay was validated through generation of Z'-factors of 0.55 for APH3'IIIa with kanamycin and 0.60 for PKA with kemptide. The assay was used to simultaneously screen a kinase-directed library of mixtures of ten compounds each against both enzymes, leading to the identification of selective inhibitors for each enzyme as well as one non-selective inhibitor following mixture deconvolution.

Analysis of microarrays by MALDI-TOF MS

Ligand libraries can be printed onto a sandwich composed of activated lipids embedded in a hydrophobic layer conjugated to an indium-tin oxide (ITO) surface. Arrays produced this way can be analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Applications include the assignment of enzyme specificity, the profiling of glycoforms and the identification of lectins.

An adaptor domain-mediated autocatalytic interfacial kinase reaction

This paper describes a model system for studying the autocatalytic phosphorylation of an immobilized substrate by a kinase enzyme. This work uses self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiolates on gold to present the peptide substrate on a planar surface. Treatment of the monolayer with Abl kinase results in phosphorylation of the substrate. The phosphorylated peptide then serves as a ligand for the SH2 adaptor domain of the kinase and thereby directs the kinase activity to nearby peptide substrates. This directed reaction is intramolecular and proceeds with a faster rate than does the initial, intermolecular reaction, making this an autocatalytic process. The kinetic non-linearity gives rise to properties that have no counterpart in the corresponding homogeneous phase reaction: in one example, the rate for phosphorylation of a mixture of two peptides is faster than the sum of the rates for phosphorylation of each peptide when presented alone. This work highlights the use of an adaptor domain in modulating the activity of a kinase enzyme for an immobilized substrate and offers a new approach for studying biochemical reactions in spatially inhomogeneous settings.

MALDI-TOF mass-spectrometry-based versatile method for the characterization of protein kinases

We describe a MALDI-TOF mass-spectrometry-based method that is rapid and versatile for the characterization of protein kinases and their inhibitors. We have designed new kinase substrates by the modification of common synthetic peptides, such as kemptide (LRRALSG), CaMKII substrate (KRQQSFDLF), erktide (ATGPLSPGPFGRR), abltide (EAIYAAPFAKKK), srctide (AEEEIYGEFEAKKKK), neurogranin (AAAKIQASFRGHMARKK), and casein kinase I (CKI) substrate (RRKDLHDDEEDEAMSITA). There are two fundamental points on which the proposed method is based to improve the mass-spectrometric response: 1) mass tag technology by N-derivatization through stable isotope labeling and 2) C-terminal conjugation with tryptophanylarginine (WR). It was suggested that C-terminal conjugation with the WR moiety enhances the ionization potency of these new substrates 1.5-13.7 times as much as those of the original peptides. We demonstrated, by using modified abltide (Ac-EAIYAAPFAKKKWR-NH(2)), that WR conjugation at the C-terminus in combination with stable-isotope labeling at the N-terminus allowed the quantitative assay of recombinant c-Abl kinase in the presence of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP; K(M,ATP)=18.6 microM and V(max)=642 pmol min(-1) microg(-1)). The present protocol made a simple and reliable inhibition assay of recombinant c-Abl kinase by imatinib possible (IC(50(recombinant))=291 nM; STI571, Gleevec; Novartis Pharma). Moreover, it was also demonstrated that this ATP noncompetitive inhibitor differentiates between two conformers of c-Abl kinases: the phosphorylated active and dephosphorylated inactive forms (IC(50(active form))=1049 nM and IC(50(inactive form))=54 nM). The merit of this approach is evident because the present protocol can be applied to the direct monitoring of the activities of living cell kinases by using cancer-cell lines, such as mouse B16 melanoma cells and human lung cancer K562 cells. A multiple-kinase assay that uses K562 cell lysate in the presence of seven new synthetic substrates made high-throughput inhibitor profiling possible. It should be emphasized that this radioactive isotope-free quantitative kinase assay will greatly accelerate the discovery of a new generation of potential kinase inhibitors that exhibit highly selective or unique inhibitory profiles.

Glycoarrays--tools for determining protein-carbohydrate interactions and glycoenzyme specificity

Carbohydrate arrays (glycoarrays) have recently emerged as a high-throughput tool for studying carbohydrate-binding proteins and carbohydrate-processing enzymes. A number of sophisticated array platforms that allow for qualitative and quantitative analysis of carbohydrate binding and modification on the array surface have been developed, including analysis by fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. These platforms, together with examples of biologically-relevant applications are reviewed in this Feature Article.

Functional peptide arrays for high-throughput chemical biology based applications

Constant advancements in printing technology, informatics, surface modification strategies and peptide chemistries mean that peptide arrays have, like DNA arrays, become even more miniaturised and complex in terms of not only the numbers of peptides immobilised but also their lengths. As a result peptide-based arrays have become a powerful tool in the interrogation, examination and perturbation of a host of biological systems.

A multiplexed protein kinase assay

We report a novel protein kinase assay designed for high-throughput detection of one or many kinases in a complex mixture. A solution-phase phosphorylation reaction is performed on 900 different peptide substrates, each covalently linked to an oligonucleotide tag. After incubation, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine are chemically labeled, and the substrates are hybridized to a microarray with oligonucleotides complementary to the tags to read out the phosphorylation state of each peptide. Because protein kinases act on more than one peptide sequence, each kinase can be characterized by a unique signature of phosphorylation activity on multiple substrates. Using this method, we determined signatures for 26 purified kinases and demonstrated that enzyme mixtures can be screened for activity and selectivity of inhibition.

Competitive MS binding assays for dopamine D2 receptors employing spiperone as a native marker

A competitive MS binding assay employing spiperone as a native marker and a porcine striatal membrane fraction as a source for dopamine D2 receptors in a nonvolatile buffer has been established. Binding of the test compounds to the target was monitored by mass-spectrometric quantification of the nonbound marker, spiperone, in the supernatant of the binding samples obtained by centrifugation. A solid-phase extraction procedure was used for separating spiperone from ESI-MS-incompatible supernatant matrix components. Subsequently, the marker was reliably quantified by LC-ESI-MS-MS by using haloperidol as an internal standard. The affinities of the test compounds, the dopamine receptor antagonists (+)-butaclamol, chlorpromazine and (S)-sulpiride obtained from the competitive MS binding assay were verified by corresponding radioligand binding experiments with [3H]spiperone. The results of this study demonstrate that competitive MS binding assays represent a universally applicable alternative to conventional radioligand binding assays.