Chemische Charakterisierung und Spurenanalytik
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- 1.5 Proteinanalytik (26) (entfernen)
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the arteries and represents the primary cause of various cardiovascular diseases. Despite ongoing progress, finding effective anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis remains a challenge. Here, we assessed the potential of molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the effects of 01BSUR, an anti-interleukin-1β monoclonal antibody, for treating atherosclerosis in a murine model. Male apolipoprotein E-deficient mice were divided into a therapy group (01BSUR, 2 × 0.3 mg/kg subcutaneously, n = 10) and control group (no treatment, n = 10) and received a high-fat diet for eight weeks. The plaque burden was assessed using an elastin-targeted gadolinium-based contrast probe (0.2 mmol/kg intravenously) on a 3 T MRI scanner. T1-weighted imaging showed a significantly lower contrast-to-noise (CNR) ratio in the 01BSUR group (pre: 3.93042664; post: 8.4007067) compared to the control group (pre: 3.70679168; post: 13.2982156) following administration of the elastin-specific MRI probe (p < 0.05). Histological examinations demonstrated a significant reduction in plaque size (p < 0.05) and a significant decrease in plaque elastin content (p < 0.05) in the treatment group compared to control animals. This study demonstrated that 01BSUR hinders the progression of atherosclerosis in a mouse model. Using an elastin-targeted MRI probe, we could quantify these therapeutic effects in MRI.
The affinity constant, also known as the equilibrium constant, binding constant, equilibrium association constant, or the reciprocal value, the equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd), can be considered as one of the most important characteristics for any antibody–antigen pair. Many methods based on different technologies have been proposed and used to determine this value. However, since a very large number of publications and commercial datasheets do not include this information, significant obstacles in performing such measurements seem to exist. In other cases where such data are reported, the results have often proved to be unreliable. This situation may indicate that most of the technologies available today require a high level of expertise and effort that does not seem to be available in many laboratories. In this paper, we present a simple approach based on standard immunoassay technology that is easy and quick to perform. It relies on the effect that the molar IC50 approaches the Kd value in the case of infinitely small concentrations of the reagents. A two-dimensional dilution of the reagents leads to an asymptotic convergence to Kd. The approach has some similarity to the well-known checkerboard titration used for the optimization of immunoassays. A well-known antibody against the FLAG peptide, clone M2, was used as a model system and the results were compared with other methods. This approach could be used in any case where a competitive assay is available or can be developed. The determination of an affinity constant should belong to the crucial parameters in any quality control of antibody-related products and assays and should be mandatory in papers using immunochemical protocols.
Peptide pools consist of short amino acid sequences and have proven to be versatile tools in various research areas in immunology and clinical applications. They are commercially available in many different compositions and variants. However, unlike other reagents that consist of only one or a few compounds, peptide pools are highly complex products which makes their quality control a major challenge. Quantitative peptide analysis usually requires sophisticated methods, in most cases isotope-labeled standards and reference materials. Usually, this would be prohibitively laborious and expensive. Therefore, an approach is needed to provide a practical and feasible method for quality control of peptide pools. With insufficient quality control, the use of such products could lead to incorrect experimental results, worsening the well-known reproducibility crisis in the biomedical sciences. Here we propose the use of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with two detectors, a standard UV detector at 214 nm for quantitative analysis and a high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) for identity confirmation. To be cost-efficient and fast, quantification and identification are performed in one chromatographic run. An optimized protocol is shown, and different peak integration methods are compared and discussed. This work was performed using a peptide pool known as CEF advanced, which consists of 32 peptides derived from cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and influenza virus, ranging from 8 to 12 amino acids in length.
Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a crucial biomarker for diagnosing cardiac vascular diseases, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study presents a proof-of-concept chemiluminescence-based immunosensor for rapid and accurate measurement of cTnI, with the potential for online monitoring. The immunosensor incorporates a flow cell design and a sensitive complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera for optical readout. A microfluidic setup was established to enable selective and quasi-online determination of cTnI within ten minutes. The sensor was tested with recombinant cTnI in phosphate buffer, demonstrating measurements in the concentration range of 2–25 µg/L, with a limit of detection (LoD) of 0.6 µg/L (23 pmol/L) achieved using the optimized system. The immunosensor exhibited high selectivity, as no cross-reactivity was observed with other recombinant proteins such as cTnT and cTnC at a concentration of 16 µg/L. Measurements with diluted blood plasma and serum yielded an LoD of 60 µg/L (2.4 nmol/L) and 70 µg/L (2.9 nmol/L), respectively. This biosensor offers a promising approach for the rapid and sensitive detection of cTnI, contributing to the diagnosis and management of acute myocardial infarction and other cardiac vascular diseases.
Immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) is a widely used technique for purifying polyhistidine-tagged recombinant proteins. However, it often has practical limitations that require complex optimizations and additional steps for purification. In this study, we introduce functionalized corundum particles as a novel, efficient, and economical method for purifying recombinant proteins in a column-free format. The corundum surface is modified with amino silane APTES, followed by EDTA dianhydride, and then loaded with nickel ions. We used the Kaiser test to monitor the modification process and ICP-MS to quantify the metal-binding capacity. To evaluate the system, we used His-tagged protein A/G (PAG) mixed with bovine serum albumin (BSA). The corundum particles exhibited a binding capacity of approximately 3 mg of protein per gram of corundum or 2.4 mg per 1 mL of corundum suspension. We also examined cytoplasm obtained from different E. coli strains as an example of a complex matrix. Varying the imidazole concentration in the loading and washing buffers showed that higher concentrations during loading improved purity. Even with sample volumes as large as one liter, we successfully isolated recombinant proteins down to a concentration of 1 µg/mL. We found higher purity levels with corundum when comparing the corundum material to standard Ni–NTA agarose beads. We successfully purified His6-MBP-mSA2, a fusion protein comprising monomeric streptavidin and maltose-binding protein, from E. coli cytoplasm, demonstrating the method's applicability. We also purified SARS-CoV-2-S-RBD-His8 expressed in human Expi293F cells, confirming its suitability for mammalian cell culture supernatants. The material cost of the nickel-loaded corundum material (without regeneration) is estimated to be less than 30 cents per gram of functionalized support or 10 cents per milligram of isolated protein. Another advantage of this system is the exceptional physical and chemical stability of corundum particles. Overall, we have demonstrated that this novel material offers an efficient, robust, and cost-effective purification platform for His-tagged proteins, even in challenging, complex matrices and large sample volumes with low product concentrations. This method has potential applications in both small laboratories and large-scale industrial settings.
Quantitative 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) of aromatic amino acids for protein quantification
(2023)
Hydrolysis of protein samples into amino acids facilitates the use of NMR spectroscopy for protein and peptide quantification. Different conditions have been tested for quantifying aromatic amino acids and proteins. The pH-dependent signal shifts in the aromatic region of amino acid samples were examined. A pH of 12 was found to minimize signal overlap of the four aromatic amino acids. Several aromatic compounds, such as terephthalic acid, sulfoisophthalic acid, and benzene tricarboxylic acid, were applied as internal standards. The quantification of amino acids from an amino acid standard was performed. Using the first two suggested internal standards, recovery was ~97% for histidine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine at a concentration of approximately 1 mM in solution. Acidic hydrolysis of a certified reference material (CRM) of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and subsequent quantification of Phe and Tyr yielded recoveries of 98% ± 2% and 88% ± 4%, respectively, at a protein concentration of 16 g/L or 250 µM.
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in men. For detection and diagnosis of PCa, non-invasive methods, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can reduce the risk potential of surgical intervention. To explore the molecular characteristics of the tumor, we investigated the applicability of ferumoxytol in PCa in a xenograft mouse model in two different tumor volumes, 500 mm3 and 1000 mm3. Macrophages play a key role in tumor progression, and they are able to internalize iron-oxide particles, such as ferumoxytol. When evaluating T2*-weighted sequences on MRI, a significant decrease of signal intensity between pre- and post-contrast images for each tumor volume (n = 14; p < 0.001) was measured. We, furthermore, observed a higher signal loss for a tumor volume of 500 mm3 than for 1000 mm3. These findings were confirmed by histological examinations and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The 500 mm3 tumors had 1.5% iron content (n = 14; sigma = 1.1), while the 1000 mm3 tumors contained only 0.4% iron (n = 14; sigma = 0.2). In vivo MRI data demonstrated a correlation with the ex vivo data (R2 = 0.75). The results of elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry correlated strongly with the MRI data (R2 = 0.83) (n = 4). Due to its long retention time in the blood, biodegradability, and low toxicity to patients, ferumoxytol has great potential as a contrast agent for visualization PCa.
MALDI-TOF-MS-Based Identification of Monoclonal Murine Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies within One Hour
(2022)
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many virus-binding monoclonal antibodies have been developed for clinical and diagnostic purposes. This underlines the importance of antibodies as universal bioanalytical reagents. However, little attention is given to the reproducibility crisis that scientific studies are still facing to date. In a recent study, not even half of all research antibodies mentioned in publications could be identified at all. This should spark more efforts in the search for practical solutions for the traceability of antibodies. For this purpose, we used 35 monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 to demonstrate how sequence-independent antibody identification can be achieved by simple means applied to the protein. First, we examined the intact and light chain masses of the antibodies relative to the reference material NIST-mAb 8671. Already half of the antibodies could be identified based solely on these two parameters. In addition, we developed two complementary peptide mass fingerprinting methods with MALDI-TOF-MS that can be performed in 60 min and had a combined sequence coverage of over 80%. One method is based on the partial acidic hydrolysis of the protein by 5 mM of sulfuric acid at 99 degrees C. Furthermore, we established a fast way for a tryptic digest without an alkylation step. We were able to show that the distinction of clones is possible simply by a brief visual comparison of the mass spectra. In this work, two clones originating from the same immunization gave the same fingerprints. Later, a hybridoma sequencing confirmed the sequence identity of these sister clones. In order to automate the spectral comparison for larger libraries of antibodies, we developed the online software ABID 2.0. This open-source software determines the number of matching peptides in the fingerprint spectra. We propose that publications and other documents critically relying on monoclonal antibodies with unknown amino acid sequences should include at least one antibody fingerprint. By fingerprinting an antibody in question, its identity can be confirmed by comparison with a library spectrum at any time and context.
Fast and accurate determination of the protein content of a sample is an important and non-trivial task of many biochemical, biomedical, food chemical, pharmaceutical, and environmental research activities. Different methods of total protein determination are used for a wide range of proteins with highly variable properties in complex matrices. These methods usually work reasonably well for proteins under controlled conditions, but the results for non-standard and complex samples are often questionable. Here, we compare new and well-established methods, including traditional amino acid analysis (AAA), aromatic amino acid analysis (AAAA) based on the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine, reversed-phase liquid chromatography of intact proteins with UV absorbance measurements at 220 and 280 nm (LC-220, LC-280), and colorimetric assays like Coomassie Blue G-250 dye-binding assay (Bradford) and bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. We investigated different samples, including proteins with challenging properties, chemical modifications, mixtures, and complex matrices like air particulate matter and pollen extracts. All methods yielded accurate and precise results for the protein and matrix used for calibration. AAA, AAAA with fluorescence detection, and the LC-220 method yielded robust results even under more challenging conditions (variable analytes and matrices). These methods turned out to be well-suited for reliable determination of the protein content in a wide range of samples, such as air particulate matter and pollen.
Quantitative proteomics is a growing research area and one of the most important tools in the life sciences. Well-characterized and quantified protein standards are needed to achieve accurate and reliable results. However, only a limited number of sufficiently characterized protein standards are currently available. To fill this gap, a method for traceable protein quantification using sulfur isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was developed in this study.
Gel filtration and membrane filtration were tested for the separation of non-protein-bound sulfur in the protein solution.
Membrane filtration demonstrated a better performance due to the lower workload and the very low sulfur blanks of 11 ng, making it well suited for high-purity proteins such as NIST SRM 927, a bovine serum albumin (BSA). The method development was accomplished with NIST SRM 927e and a commercial avidin. The quantified mass fraction of NIST SRM 927e agreed very well with the certified value and showed similar uncertainties (3.6%) as established methods while requiring less sample preparation and no species-specific standards. Finally, the developed procedure was applied to the tau protein, which is a biomarker for a group of neurodegenerative diseases denoted “tauopathies” including, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. For the absolute quantification of tau in the brain of transgenic mice overexpressing human tau, a well-defined calibration standard was needed. Therefore, a pure tau solution was quantified, yielding a protein mass fraction of (0.328 ± 0.036) g/kg, which was confirmed by amino acid analysis.