CST Announces Continuation of Collaboration with AstraZeneca

Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. has announced a third agreement withAstraZenecaunder which it will continue to perform CST's PhosphoScan^®technology to identify phosphorylation profiles and prospective biomarkers of kinase targeted lead compounds.

CST's PhosphoScan^®proteomics technology is a patent-pending strategy that is designed to enable the discovery of drug target phospho-profiles (Phospho-Signatures™) in cells and disease tissues.

The PhosphoScan® technology involves immunoaffinity purification and mass spectroscopy and was described in the journalNature Biotechnology(Rush J. et al, Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 94-101 (2005)).

The Phospho-Signatures™ discovered using PhosphoScan^®may enable biomarker assays for target validation and therapeutic kinase inhibitor clinical development.

"Our on-going relationship with AstraZeneca has enabled to CST apply its phosphoproteomics capabilities to deliver valuable information supporting AstraZeneca's kinase inhibitor programs," said Christopher Bunker, CST's Director of Business Development.

"PhosphoScan^®has provided value to our partners as well as to CST's internal cancer research programs, particularly in understanding tyrosine kinase activation and inhibitor mechanism of action."

"CST has in addition recently implemented methods for serine/threonine kinase PhosphoScan^®profiling, as well as quantification strategies, which further enhance CST's ability to focus on the most relevant biomarkers of kinase target activation and inhibition."

"AstraZeneca can also benefit, under our agreement, from CST's expertise in antibody and immunoassay development for biomarkers discovered using PhosphoScan^®."