Patent ID: 8637274

Claim:
A method of screening for a test substance which decreases the amount of active complex of γ-secretase in a lipid raft, comprising: preparing cells in two or more dishes, adding the test substance to one of said dishes, culturing cells in each of said dishes, detecting or quantifying constituents required by γ-secretase for the formation of an active complex thereof in a lipid raft fraction of the cultured cells in each of said dishes, detecting or quantifying a constituent indicative of intact lipid rafts in a lipid raft fraction of the cultured cells in each of said dishes, and determining that the test substance is a substance which decreases the amount of active complex of γ-secretase in a lipid raft without destroying the structure of the lipid raft if (i) the constituents required by γ-secretase for the formation of an active complex thereof decrease in the lipid raft fraction of the cultured cells in a dish into which the test substance is added, as compared to a dish into which the test substance was not added and (ii) if the constituent indicative of intact lipid rafts is present in the lipid raft fraction of the cultured cells in the dish into which the test substance was added.