Specificity of the NIC assay. (A) The percentage of inhibition at given concentrations in the competitive NIC-2 ELISA tested with the selection peptide (VEKTRCQHERE), an elongated selection peptide (VEKTRCQHEREH), a truncated selection peptide (EVEKTRCQHER), a nonsense selection peptide (APVGGIIGWM), and a nonsense screening peptide (Biotin-APVGGIIGWM). %B/B0: B equals the OD at × nM peptide and B0 equals the OD at 0 nM peptide. (B) NIC levels measured after cleavage of human recombinant nidogen-1 (Nid-1) with CatS, and MMP-1, -7, and -9. Values below the LLOD were assigned the LLOD. *Representative of MMP-1, -7, and -9.