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CellSensor® Cell Lines

Effectively analyze signal transduction pathways of biological relevance. 

Our CellSensor® Cell Lines can be used to:

  • Screen for agonists/antagonists within a signaling pathway
  • Identify inhibitors of a specific protein target in a signaling pathway
  • Counterscreen and profile for compound selectivity
View our CellSensor® Cell Line Validation Table to find your target and start using the largest collection of fully validated pathway cell lines for your primary and secondary screening today.  

Assay Principle

  • CellSensor® Cell Lines use GeneBLAzer® beta-lactamase reporter technology to provide you with a rapid and sensitive method of analyzing signal transduction pathways exposed to drug candidates or other stimuli.  These cell lines measure compound potency and selectivity and allow for analysis, in a high-throughput manner, of key pathways activated or down-regulated by compounds.

  • Many intracellular signaling pathways converge at the transcriptional level, where transcription factors bind to DNA enhancer elements that regulate downstream transcription.  We have used lentiviral vectors to produce a series of stable cell lines containing various response elements upstream of the beta-lactamase reporter gene.

    When pathways leading to specific enhancer elements are activated in these cell lines, beta-lactamase is produced, which can then be detected in a homogeneous assay with our cell-permeable, ratiometric fluorescent LiveBLAzer™-FRET B/G substrate (Figure 1).

    Learn more about GeneBLAzer® substrates.
Figure 1. Schematic of CellSensor® reporter gene assay.  CellSensor® cell lines are stably engineered to expression beta-lactamase reporter under the control of pathway-specific response elements. The principle and methods for this assay format are simple.1) Minimal amount of beta-lactamase is expressed in untreated cells or cells treated with a pathway-specific inhibitor. Stimulation of the pathway with a ligand or a constitutively active mutation of a component in the pathway leads to the activation of downstream transcription factor(s) resulting in the beta-lactamase reporter gene expression; 2) Cells are loaded with a cell-permeable beta-lactamase FRET-based substrate.  The detection of the beta-lactamase reporter activity is measured on a bottom-read fluorescence plate reader. Low 460nm (blue)/530nm (green) ratio represents low beta-lactamase activity in untreated or inhibitor treated cells and high 460nm (blue)/530nm (green) ratio represents high beta-lactamase activity in the ligand-stimulated cells or cells expressing a constitutively active pathway.

CellSensor® Cell Lines Instrumentation Requirements

  • There are two critical instrumentation features required for CellSensor® readout—bottom read capability and compatible filter sets.  Invitrogen has validated several instruments for use with our CellSensor® Cell Lines when used with our LiveBLAzer™- FRET B/G substrate.

    For instrumentation set-up help or a list of validated instruments, please email us at drugdiscoverytech@invitrogen.com.
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