Nuclear receptors in analytics - a fruitful joint venture or a wasteful futility?

This review compares analytical techniques, approaches and assay formats employing nuclear receptors (NRs). We give a brief overview of the analytically interesting properties of NRs in general, and we discuss the possible benefits for classical analytical techniques (e.g., mass spectrometry or nuclear magnetic resonance) and rather new analytical methods (e.g., biosensors or in silk approaches). We especially highlight the combination of analytical methods together with their enhancement using NRs and their possible fields of application in future. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.