Striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase (STEP) is a brain-specific enzyme that regulates the signaling molecules that control synaptic plasticity and neuronal function. Dysregulation of STEP is linked to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Experimental results from neurological deficit disease models suggest that the modulation of STEP could be beneficial in a number of these disorders. This prompted our work to identify small-molecule modulators of STEP to provide the foundation of a drug discovery program. As a component of our testing funnel to identify small-molecule STEP inhibitors, we have developed a cellular target engagement assay that can identify compounds that interact with STEP46. We provide a comprehensive protocol to enable the use of this miniaturized assay, and we demonstrate its utility to benchmark the binding of newly discovered compounds.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; CETSA; Cellular target engagement assay; Cellular thermal shift; Drug discovery; InCELL Pulse; Inhibitor; Neurodegenerative disorders; PTPN5; Protein tyrosine phosphatase; Protein–drug interaction; STEP; Small molecule.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.