Bio Screening Industry News

San Jose, CA - July 6, 2006

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family of positive, single stranded RNA, infects approximately 170 million people worldwide (1). The HCV polyprotein consists of structural proteins (C, E1, E2 and p7), and the non-structural (NS) proteins (NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, and NS5B) as a result of proteolytical cleavages of host signal peptidases; and metalloprotease and serine proteases, respectively. 

AnaSpec has developed the industry’s only HTS assay kits for screening HCV NS3/4a.  EnzoLyte^TM assay kits are specifically designed for the detection and quantification of NS3/4A protease activity at subnanomolar concentrations. They can be used in 96- or 384-well microplate format. There are three assay kits to choose from depending on what wavelength is used for monitoring the cleavage of the FRET substrate.  Convenient mix-and-read format and one-step procedure make EnzoLyte Assay Kits ideal for high-throughput screening.

EnzoLyte^TM 490 HCV Assay Kit 

Peptide substrate paired with Dabcyl (fluorophore) and Edans (quencher).  Fluorescence can be continuously monitored at Ex/Em=340/490nm.  Kit size: 500 assays.

EnzoLyte^TM 520 HCV Assay Kit 

Peptide substrate paired with 5-FAM (fluorophore) and QXL^TM 520 (quencher).  Fluorescence can be continuously monitored at Ex/Em=490/520 nm.  Kit size: 100 assays.

EnzoLyte^TM 620 HCV Assay Kit

Peptide substrate paired with HiLyte Fluor^TM TR (fluorophore) and QXL^TM 610 (quencher).  With near red emission wavelength, this FRET peptide avoids the autofluorescence interference associated with most test compounds. Fluorescence can be continuously monitored at Ex/Em=590/620nm.  Kit size: 100 assays.

References:

1.  CDC and Prevention. Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 47:1-39 (1998).