New assay for ADAMTS-13

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “A rapid enzyme-linked assay for ADAMTS-13” (J Thromb Haemost. 2006 Jan;4(1):129-36). Authors are Wu JJ, Fujikawa K, Lian EC еt al., from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. A deficiency in the plasma metalloprotease ADAMTS-13 is associated with deposition of microvascular thrombi that cause thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Current assays for ADAMTS-13 are technically complex and time-consuming. The objective of this study is to devise a rapid and sensitive assay for ADAMTS-13 activity in plasma and verify the site of cleavage. A new enzyme-linked substrate, which contains a core ADAMTS-13-specific peptide conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) at the N-terminus, and labeled with biotin at the C-terminus, was constructed. Plasma ADAMTS-13 activity was readily determined in approximately 60 min. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.