TdF (Temperature Dependence Fluorescence) Assay: The SAR (Structure Activity Relationship) for ERK ligands covered by this invention was interrogated using the TdF (Temperature Dependence Fluorescence) assay or best known as thermal shift assay. (M. W. Pantoliano, et al., "High-density miniaturized thermal shift assays as a general strategy for drug discovery," J. Biomol. Screen 6 (2001) 429-440) The TdF assay was mainly conducted in the 96-well based CHROMO-4 real time fluorescence plate reader (BioRad). The Sypro Orange (Sigma-Aldrich), environmentally sensitive fluorescence dye, was used to monitor the protein folding-unfolding transition. Protein-ligand binding was gauged by the change (or shift) in the unfolding transition temperature (ΔTm) acquired at protein alone with respect to protein in the presence of ligand of interest.Compound of interest was first prepared in DMSO stock (typical concentration: 10 mM). Sample of 20 μt was then added into the 96-well PCR plate, where it consisted of 3 μM ERK protein and 15, 50 or 100 μM compound (depending on compound's solubility) in buffer (25 mM HEPES, 150 mM NaCl, pH-7.5 and 1 mM DTT) incorporated with Sypro Orange dye (5x final concentration). Final percentage of DMSO resided in the sample was 2%. The sample plate was heated from 30° C. to 90° C. with thermal ramping rate of 1° C./min.
IMAP Assay: Activated ERK2 activity was also determined in the IMAP assay format using the procedure outlined above. 1 μl of 25× compound was added to 14 μl of kinase buffer containing 0.25 ng fully phosphorylated, active Mouse ERK2 protein. Following a 30 minute incubation, the reactions were initiated by addition of 10 μl of kinase buffer containing 1 μM ERK2 IMAP substrate peptide (0.9 μM unlabeled IPTTPITTTYFFFK-CONH2 and 100 nM IPTTPITTTYFFFK(5-carboxyfluorescein)-CONH2) and 30 μM ATP. Reactions proceeded for 30 minutes before termination by addition of 600 IMAP detection beads in binding buffer. Plates were read as above after 30 minute binding equilibration. Active compounds were reconfirmed in an independent assay.