A new Assay screening method shows therapeutic promise for treating auto-immune disease

Oak Brook, IL (January 27, 2022) – The January 2023 issue of SLAS Discovery contains a collection of four full-length articles and one technical brief covering cancer research, high-throughput screening (HTS) assay development and other drug discovery exploration.

This month's featured article, "A high-throughput MALDI-TOF MS biochemical screen for small molecule inhibitors of the antigen aminopeptidase ERAP1," by Müller, et al, presents a newly developed matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) drug discovery assay for the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1). The dysregulation of ERAP1 has been associated with various auto-immune and auto-inflammatory diseases, making ERAP1 a high-profile target in drug discovery.

The research team behind this study utilized an existing ERAP1 RapidFire MS (RF MS) assay on which to base their MALDI-TOF assay, producing greater assay stability, reproducibility and robustness for the MALDI-TOF platform. When results were compared between the pre-established RF MS and the MALDI-TOF platforms, shorter sample cycle times, reduced reagent consumption and a lower tight-binding limit were all advantages of the MALDI-TOF platform.

Read this original research article to learn how the MALDI-TOF platform may detect other difficult targets, along with more research articles in the January issue of SLAS Discovery.

The January issue of SLAS Discovery includes these additional articles:

• The SLAS Discovery Editor's Top 10 for 2022
• Reduced levels of serum EPA and DHA identified in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer using a new rapid validated LC-MS/MS method
• DNA methylation-induced ablation of miR-133a accelerates cancer aggressiveness in glioma through upregulating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ
• Optimising cell-based bioassays via integrated design of experiments (ixDoE) - A practical guide
• Development of a high-throughput TR-FRET screening assay for a fast-cycling KRAS mutant
• Corrigendum to DNA methylation-induced ablation of miR-133a accelerates cancer aggressiveness in glioma through upregulating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ [SLAS Discov. 2022 Sep 5;S2472-5552(22)13691-9. doi: 10.1016/j.slasd.2022.08.004.]

Access to the January issue of SLAS Discovery is available at https://www.slas-technology.org/issue/S2472-6303(22)X0007-1

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SLAS Discovery reports how scientists develop and use novel technologies and/or approaches to provide and characterize chemical and biological tools to understand and treat human disease. The journal focuses on drug discovery sciences with a strong record of scientific rigor and impact, reporting on research that:

• Enables and improves target validation
• Evaluates current drug discovery technologies
• Provides novel research tools
• Incorporates research approaches that enhance depth of knowledge and drug discovery success

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, 2021 Impact Factor 3.341. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Redona Therapeutics, Watertown, MA (USA).

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