PTEN Activity ELISA Kit

Intended Use

The PTEN Activity ELISA is designed to quantify the phosphatase activity of PTEN by detection of the product, PIP2, in a competitive ELISA format, eliminating the need for radioactivity, organic solvents, and thin layer chromatography.

Storage

The kit comes in two parts with different storage requirements. Upon receipt store Kit Part 1 at 4°C and Kit Part 2 at -20°C. Store prepared reagents as indicated in the protocol.

General Description

PTEN (Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog deleted on Chromosome 10) is a 3' phosphoinositide phosphatase that converts PI(3,4,5)P3 to PI(4,5)P2, thus opposing PKB/Akt activation by PI 3-K. PTEN is involved in neuronal stem cell proliferation and self-renewal, cardiac myocyte hypertrophy and contractility, and a wide range of developmental processes. PTEN, however, is best known for its role as a tumor suppressor. Loss of PTEN activity results in accumulation of PI(3,4,5)P3, abnormal activation of PKB/Akt, unregulated cell growth, suppression of apoptosis, and increased tumorigenesis in a number of human tissues. It has also been proposed that PTEN is a candidate for targeted chemotherapy because certain anti-cancer agents preferentially destroy tumors with PTEN mutations. In addition to this direct role in cancer, PTEN has recently been shown to regulate cancer-associated pathways including VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and others.
The PTEN Activity ELISA directly detects the phosphoinositide product compared to other assays, which detect free phosphate. This eliminates many possible sources of error due to the fact that inorganic phosphate is the product of many phosphatase enzyme activities, and is found in common buffers and cleaning products.