Automated high content screening for phosphoinositide 3 kinase inhibition using an AKT 1 redistribution assay

Comb Chem High Throughput Screen. 2006 Jun;9(5):339-50. doi: 10.2174/138620706777452447.

Abstract

High Content Screening (HCS), a combination of fluorescence microscopic imaging and automated image analysis, has become a frequently applied tool to study test compound effects in cellular disease-modelling systems. In this work, we established a medium to high throughput HCS assay in the 384-well format to measure cellular type I phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K) activity. Type I PI3K is involved in several intracellular pathways such as cell survival, growth and differentiation as well as immunological responses. As a cellular model system we used Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells that had been stably transfected with human insulin receptor (hIR) and an AKT1-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fusion construct. Upon stimulation of the hIR with insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), PI3K was activated to phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns)-4,5-bisphosphate at the 3-position, resulting in the recruitment of AKT1-EGFP to the plasma membrane. The AKT1-EGFP redistribution assay was robust and displayed little day-to-day variability, the quantification of the fluorescence intensity associated with plasma membrane spots delivered good Z' statistics. A novel format of compound dose-response testing was employed using serial dilutions of test compounds across consecutive microtiter plates (MTPs). The dose response testing of a PI3K inhibitor series provided reproducible IC50 values. The profiling of the redistribution assay with isoform-selective inhibitors indicates that PI3Kalpha is the main isoform activated in the CHO host cells after IGF-1 stimulation. Toxic compound side effects could be determined using automated image analysis. We conclude that the AKT1-EGFP redistribution assay represents a solid medium/high throughput screening (MTS/HTS) format to determine the cellular activity of PI3K inhibitors under conditions of growth factor stimulation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biological Assay / methods*
  • CHO Cells
  • Cell Membrane / drug effects*
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Cell Membrane / ultrastructure
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cricetinae
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Female
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / metabolism
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / metabolism
  • Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates / metabolism
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / metabolism*
  • Receptor, Insulin / metabolism
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
  • Receptor, Insulin
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt