A rapid and accurate method for evaluating the degradation of pan-Akt in cells by PROTACs using NanoLuc luciferase

Abstract Proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTAC) is a protein degradation technique that has been increasingly used in the development of new drugs in recent years. Akt is a classical serine/threonine kinase, and its role outside of the kinase has gradually gained attention in recent years, making it one of the proteins targeted by PROTACs. Currently there are many methods used for the evaluation of intracellular protein degradation, but each has its own advantages or disadvantages. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of evaluating the degradation of pan-Akt proteins in cells by PROTACs (MS21 and MS170) using the NanoLuc luciferase method. After conducting a thorough comparison between this method and the classical western blot assay in various cells, as well as testing the stability of the experiments between multiple batches, we found that NanoLuc luciferase is a highly accurate, stable, low-cost and easy-to-operate method for the evaluation of intracellular pan-Akt degradation by PROTACs with a short cycle time and high cellular expandability. Given the numerous advantages of this method, it is hypothesized that it could be extended to evaluate the degradation of more target proteins of PROTACs. In summary, the NanoLuc luciferase is a suitable method for early protein degradation screening of PROTAC compounds.