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Real-time Cell-Binding Assays

LigandTracer Green

What it is LigandTracer?

LigandTracer is a real-time cell-binding assay (RT-CBA) technology that enables real-time monitoring of molecular interactions on live cells, allowing you to observe how your compounds bind under physiological conditions. This capability provides insights into the dynamics of binding events as they occur, which is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of action of your compounds.

What RT-CBAs have to offer?

LigandTracer can provide you with information about:

  • Binding kinetics rates of the interaction - for example, the off-rate often correlates with the duration of the effect of a ligand.

  • Specificity properties. Perform comparative studies with positive and negative cell lines within the same measurement or study self-competition by pre-incubate with a non-labeled ligand.

  • Study complex binding, dimerization and clustering processes. Measuring interactions on live cells takes you one step closer to in vivo. Targets can be naturally expressed in the cell membrane, at physiological levels, in the presence of cellular molecules and processes that may affect the binding. 

  • Insights about physiological process (e.g. Internalization). Investigate how the strength and kinetics of your interaction is affected by temperature. Reduce the temperature to turn off cellular processes such as internalization, or increase it to 37 °C to approach an in vivo setting. 

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How can you use binding affinity and kinetics in living cells?

The observation of binding dynamics as they occur provides a more accurate representation of biological processes compared to end-point measurements obtained from fixed cells or isolated proteins. By studying binding kinetics in living cells, you can relate kinetic data to functional outcomes, such as cellular signaling response. Understanding these interactions in their native environment is essential for success.

LigandTracer helps reconcile discrepancies between different methods, such as flow cytometry and equilibrium titration, by providing a more comprehensive view of how ligands interact with receptors over time.

From small molecules to cell-cell interaction

​The ligand is defined as the binding partner in solution. The most common ligand is a protein, but anything from a small synthetic compound to a large cell can be used as long as it can be labeled.

More than 200 publications report the use of LigandTracer to study interactions with different kind of ligands:

  • Small molecules

  • Peptides

  • Antibodies

  • Virus

  • Bacteria

  • Cell

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