Patent ID: 7655394

Claim:
A rapid screening method for detecting NS2/3 autocleavage activity in a sample containing uncleaved NS2/3 protease and cleaved NS3 protease product, the method comprising the steps of: a) subjecting the sample to conditions under which at least a portion of the NS2/3 protease is self-cleaved to yield a NS3 protease product and said sample comprising uncleaved NS2/3 protease and said cleaved NS3 protease product; b) incubating the sample containing the NS3 protease product generated in step a) with a suitable amount of a NS4A cofactor in the presence of a detergent selected from the group consisting of lauryldiethylamine oxide (LDAO) and n-dodecyl-13-D-maltoside (DM), and an appropriate NS3-substrate under conditions sufficient to permit the NS3 protease product to catalyze cleavage of the NS3-substrate to produce an NS3-substrate byproduct thereof, said detergent discriminating in situ the protease activity of the uncleaved NS2/3 protease from the protease activity of the cleaved NS3 protease product; and c) detecting the NS3-substrate byproduct generated in step b), whereby the detection of NS3-substrate byproduct indicates NS2/3 autocleavage activity in the sample.