The TR-FRET LXR (liver X receptor) alpha Coactivator Assay provides a sensitive and robust method for high-throughput screening of potential LXR alpha ligands as agonists of coactivator recruitment. The kit uses a terbium (Tb)-labeled anti-GST antibody, a fluorescein-labeled coactivator peptide, and an LXR alpha ligand-binding domain (LBD) that is tagged with glutathione-S-transferase (GST), in a homogeneous mix-and-read assay format.
In the TR-FRET LXR alpha Coactivator Assay, LXR alpha-LBD is added to ligand test compounds followed by addition of a mixture of the fluorescein-coactivator peptide and Tb-labeled anti-GST antibody. After an incubation period at room temperature, the 520 nm/495 nm TR-FRET ratio is calculated and can be used to determine the EC50 from a dose response curve of the compound. Based on the biology of the LXR alpha-coactivator peptide interaction, this ligand EC50 is a composite value representing the amount of ligand required to bind to receptor, effect a conformational change, and recruit coactivator peptide.