Human serum pre-treatment: removal of abundant proteins aiming the concentration of lung cancer biomarkers

• Author(s): Rosa, M ; Silva, F ; Coutinho, J ; Freire, M
• Date: 2021
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/45838
• Origin: RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro
• Document Type: Conference object
• Language: English

Description

Due to the long asymptomatic phase and lack of effective early-stage diagnosis, lung cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer worldwide. To expedite disease diagnosis, the quantification of target biomarkers in human serum is a propitious approach. However, the low concentrations of biomarkers in human serum and their tendency to be masked by abundant proteins [immunoglobulin G (IgG) and human serum albumin (HSA )] may limit quantification accuracy. Thus, a sample pretreatment step to deplete abundant proteins, while enhancing biomarkers detection is often required. Here, three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems composed of polymers, phosphate buffer and ionic liquids as adjuvants are proposed as alternative serum pretreatment techniques. After adding human serum, these systems induced the formation of two aqueous phases, where biomarkers might be concentrated, and a solid interphase, where abundant proteins are depleted. Depletion studies using commercial human serum demonstrated that the most efficient TPP led to IgG and HSA depletion efficiencies exceeding 85%. Despite additional studies are ongoing, TPP systems show promise as cheaper and faster human serum pretreatment techniques.