TRIM28 and β-actin identified via nanobody-based reverse proteomics approach as possible human glioblastoma biomarkers

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 24;9(11):e113688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113688. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Malignant gliomas are among the rarest brain tumours, and they have the worst prognosis. Grade IV astrocytoma, known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is a highly lethal disease where the standard therapies of surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy, cannot significantly prolong the life expectancy of the patients. Tumour recurrence shows more aggressive form compared to the primary tumour, and results in patient survival from 12 to 15 months only. Although still controversial, the cancer stem cell hypothesis postulates that cancer stem cells are responsible for early relapse of the disease after surgical intervention due to their high resistance to therapy. Alternative strategies for GBM therapy are thus urgently needed. Nanobodies are single-domain antigen-binding fragments of heavy-chain antibodies, and together with classical antibodies, they are part of the camelid immune system. Nanobodies are small and stable, and they share a high degree of sequence identity to the human heavy chain variable domain, and these characteristics offer them advantages over classical antibodies or antibody fragments. We first immunised an alpaca with a human GBM stem-like cell line prepared from primary GBM cultures. Next, a nanobody library was constructed in a phage-display vector. Using nanobody phage-display technology, we selected specific GBM stem-like cell binders through a number of affinity selections, using whole cell protein extracts and membrane protein-enriched extracts from eight different GBM patients, and membrane protein-enriched extracts from two established GBM stem-like cell lines (NCH644 and NCH421K cells). After the enrichment, periplasmic extract ELISA was used to screen for specific clones. These nanobody clones were recloned into the pHEN6 vector, expressed in Escherichia coli WK6, and purified using immobilised metal affinity chromatography and size-exclusion chromatography. Specific nanobody:antigen pairs were obtained and mass spectrometry analysis revealed two proteins, TRIM28 and β-actin, that were up-regulated in the GBM stem-like cells compared to the controls.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actins / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibody Affinity / immunology
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Brain Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Brain Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Camelids, New World
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Glioblastoma / diagnosis
  • Glioblastoma / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / immunology
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / pathology
  • Peptide Library
  • Proteomics / methods
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / genetics
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / immunology
  • Single-Domain Antibodies / metabolism
  • Tripartite Motif-Containing Protein 28

Substances

  • Actins
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Peptide Library
  • Repressor Proteins
  • Single-Domain Antibodies
  • TRIM28 protein, human
  • Tripartite Motif-Containing Protein 28

Grants and funding

This work was supported by P1-0104: Research Programme Grant from the Slovenian Scientific Agency (ARRS: https://www.arrs.gov.si) research grant to RK; INTERREG EC Project 2011, Ref. No. 42: Identification of novel biomarkers to brain tumors - glioma, for diagnosis and as new therapeutic targets, Acronym: GLIOMA (http://www.ita-slo.eu/projects/projects_2007_2013/2012051514451367); ASTF 26-2013: European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO: www.embo.org), as short-term fellowship to IJ; 113. JR: Slovene Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund (http://www.sklad-kadri.si/), as a scholarship for doctorate studies of foreign citizens in Slovenia in the year 2011; three-year scholarship to IJ. SM thanks the Strategic Research Program financing from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.