Abstract:
To develop a fluorescence polarization (FP)-based high-throughput screening (HTS) assay to identify novel small-molecule antagonists targeting
β-catenin/TCF4 (T-cell factor 4) interaction, recombinant human
β-catenin was expressed in
Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) cells and purified by HisTrap
TM column. The bioactivity of purified
β-catenin was further analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). According to FP principle, the
β-catenin/TCF4 binding model was performed, and fluorescence isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled TCF4 peptide (FITC-TCF4) served as the molecular probe of adaptor for binding to
β-catenin. The FITC-TCF4 and
β-catenin working concentration were optimized, and the binding conditions (complex stability and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) tolerance) have been investigated yet for further hits screening. The results showed that recombinant human
β-catenin was successfully expressed and purified
β-catenin exhibited favorable bioactivity in ELISA binding assay. Subsequently, the FP-based HTS assay was performed using 20 nmol·L
-1 FITC-TCF4 and 100 nmol·L
-1 β-catenin. Under these optimized conditions, a high
Zxfactor of 0.88 was achieved in a 384-well format and this FP-based HTS assay was very stable with regard to DMSO. Through screening of a natural-based product library (NBPL) using the established FP-based HTS assay, three hits (sanguinarine, chelerythrine, and compound S720) were identified as potential
β-catenin/TCF4 interaction antagonists. Taken together, we have successfully developed a simple, robust and reliable FP-based HTS assay for screening of novel antagonists targeting
β-catenin/TCF4 interaction.