Assaying proteases in cellular environments

To better study protease activation, regulation, and inhibition physiologically or pharmacologically, it is often advantageous to use cell-based systems. The introduction of the cellular environment poses additional challenges for the assay of the protease of interest. In this unit, various methods for monitoring protease activity in cell-based systems is discussed. The scope of the unit is restricted to mammalian cell system. It is also stressed that specific considerations or requirements for a particular protease or peptidase are often needed in order to optimize the assay.