Serum low-molecular-weight protein fractionation for biomarker discovery

Methods Mol Biol. 2012:823:237-49. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-216-2_15.

Abstract

Protein biomarkers provide the key diagnostic information for the detection of disease, risk of disease progression, and a patient's likely response to drug therapy. Potential biomarkers exist in biofluids, such as serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid. Unfortunately, discovering and validating protein biomarkers are hindered by the presence of high-molecular-weight proteins, such as serum albumin and immunoglobulins, which comprise 90% of the proteins present in these samples. High-abundance, high-molecular-weight proteins mask the low-molecular-weight (LMW) proteins and peptides using conventional protein detection methods. Candidate biomarkers are believed to exist in very low concentrations and comprise less than 1% of serum proteins, and may be highly labile as well. Therefore, it is imperative to isolate and enrich LMW proteins from complex mixtures for biomarker discovery. This chapter describes a continuous -elution electrophoresis method, based on molecular weight sieving, to isolate specific molecular weight fractions for mass spectrometric, western blotting, or protein array analysis.

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Blood Proteins / analysis*
  • Blood Proteins / chemistry*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Chemical Fractionation / methods*
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Humans
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Molecular Weight
  • Protein Array Analysis
  • Proteomics / methods*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Blood Proteins