Development and utilization of activated STAT3 detection assays for screening a library of secreted proteins

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines are multifunctional proteins that play an important role in host defenses, acute phase reactions, immune responses, hematopoiesis, and tumorigenesis. The cytokines are produced by various lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells and mediate their biological activity through initial low-affinity binding to cell surface receptors, which are specific for their respective ligands. Ligand-specific receptor binding results in the receptor heterodimerization with ubiquitously expressed signal-transducing transmembrane component gp130 followed by activation of the gp130-associated Janus kinase, which, in turn, phosphorylates signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). Phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) dimerizes and translocates to the nucleus, where it activates gene transcription. Activation of STAT3 is essential to IL-6 family-associated physiological effects. Therefore, the ability to assess STAT3 phosphorylation is important for drug discovery efforts targeting IL-6 family cytokines. Various reagents and technologies are available to detect the effect of IL-6 type cytokines in treated cells. The present study describes the development of two pSTAT3 detection assays: the high-throughput screening assay based on Meso-Scale Discovery technology, which utilizes electrochemoluminescent signal measurements for the detection of pSTAT3 in treated cell extracts, and the secondary characterization assay based on fluorescent imaging analysis, which monitors pSTAT3 nuclear translocation in cells after activation. We have successfully utilized these assays to screen a small library of secreted proteins and identified inducers of STAT3 phosphorylation. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that both assays are robust, reliable, and amenable to high-throughput screening applications.