A non-isotopic assay for histone deacetylase activity

Inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HD) bear great potential as new drugs du e to their ability to modulate transcription and to induce apoptosis or dif ferentiation in cancer cells. To study the activity of HD and the effect of potential inhibitors in vitro so far only radioactive assays have existed. For the search of new inhibitors and for the use in HD identification and purification we established a simple, non-radioactive assay that allows scr eening of large numbers of compounds. The assay is based on an aminocoumari n derivative of an Omega-acetylated lysine as enzyme substrate.