The major constituent of senile plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease is the beta-amyloid peptide, derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by proteolytic cleavage. The QTL Lightspeed of beta-secretase assay combines high-sensitivity with high speed for screening potential inhibitors against beta-secretase. The assay is based on QTL's patented "superquenching" technology.





Caspases
The caspases are a family of cysteine proteases that are key mediators of programmed cell death or apoptosis. The precursor forms of caspases are composed of a prodomain, and large and small catalytic subunits. The active forms of caspases are generated by several stimuli including ligand-receptor interactions, growth factor deprivation, and inhibitors of cellular functions. All known caspases require cleavage adjacent to aspartates to liberate one large and one small subunit, which associate into an alpha2-beta2 tetramer to form the active enzyme.

Kinases
Protein kinases are enzymes responsible for the phosphorylation of hydroxyl side-chains on proteins by catalysing the transfer of a phosphate from ATP. This phosphorylation produces a change in the function of the protein concerned. Phosphorylations take place on serine, threonine and tyrosine residues and hence the enzymes are termed serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) or tyrosine kinases.



QTL has a history of partnering to develop custom assays for small molecule and protein targets.

Please contact us with requests for information about specific targets.