A TR-FRET based functional assay for screening activators of CARM1

Epigenome is an emerging field that demands selective cell-permeable chemical probes to perturb, especially in vivo, the activity of specific enzymes involved in modulating the epigenetic codes. Coactivator Associated Arginine (R) Methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) is a coactivator of estrogen receptor α (ERα), the main target in human breast cancer. We previously showed that overexpression of CARM1 by two-fold in MCF7 breast cancer cells increased the expression of ERα-target genes involved in differentiation and reduced cell proliferation, leading to the hypothesis that activating CARM1 by chemical activators may be therapeutically effective in breast cancer. Selective, potent, cell-permeable CA…