Patent ID: 7205120

Claim:
A method for assaying for modulators of β-secretase activity, comprising: (a) contacting a polyneptide with β-secretase APP processing activity with a substrate, both in the presence and in the absence of a putative modulator compound; wherein said substrate comprises a peptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 6 amino acids, said amino acid sequence including four amino acids defined by formula P 2 P 1 –P 1′ P 2′ , wherein the amino acids at positions P 2 , P 1 , P 1′ , P 2′ comprise S, Y, E and V, respectively, (b) measuring cleavage of the substrate peptide in the presence and in the absence of the putative modulator compound; and (c) identifying modulators of β-secretase activity from a difference in substrate cleavage in the presence versus in the absence of the putative modulator compound, wherein a modulator that is a β-secretase antagonist reduces such cleavage and a modulator that is a β-secretase agonist increases such cleavage.