EMD Millipore Adds Human Recombinant Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) Enzyme to Comprehensive Kinase Enzyme Portfolio

EMD Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, has added the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) enzyme to its extensive kinase enzyme portfolio. ATM is now part of the Upstate® portfolio offered by the company that includes more than 400 kinase and phosphatase enzymes and the KinaseProfile™ fee-for-service testing panel.

Because it is a master regulator of cell death after DNA damage, the ATM enzyme is of high interest to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as a drug target. ATM-inhibited cells have increased sensitivity to radiation, so drugs blocking the enzyme may improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy for cancer. ATM also plays a critical role in neuron death, so ATM inhibitors are being studied for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

EMD Millipore produces this important enzyme using a biomanufacturing process based on a mammalian host cell system that yields the full-length ATM enzyme at high purity and activity. This process overcomes the difficulties faced to date in producing large quantities of the enzyme.

"The development of human ATM enzyme at a manufacturing scale with purity and activity that meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry is a breakthrough," notes Steve Davies, Director of Merck Millipore's Discovery and Development Solutions business at Dundee, Scotland. "Through the innovations of our protein production and biochemical assay development groups, this product and accompanying protocols remove a major hurdle for companies developing drugs against this target."

Data accompanying EMD Millipore's ATM enzyme demonstrating enzyme activity and selective inhibition by tool compounds qualify its use in drug discovery applications and enable scientists to readily incorporate the enzyme into their in-house testing.