Digital Microfluidic Platform for Human Plasma Protein
Depletion
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Abstract
Many important biomarkers for disease
diagnosis are present at
low concentrations in human serum. These biomarkers are masked in
proteomic analysis by highly abundant proteins such as human serum
albumin (HSA) and immunoglobulins (IgGs) which account for up to 80%
of the total protein content of serum. Traditional depletion methods
using macro-scale LC-columns for highly abundant proteins involve
slow separations which impart considerable dilution to the samples.
Furthermore, most techniques lack the ability to process multiple
samples simultaneously. We present a method of protein depletion using
superparamagnetic beads coated in anti-HSA, Protein A, and Protein
G, manipulated by digital microfluidics (DMF). The depletion process
was capable of up to 95% protein depletion efficiency for IgG and
HSA in 10 min for four samples simultaneously, which resulted in an
approximately 4-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio in MALDI-MS
analysis for a low abundance protein, hemopexin. This rapid and automated
method has the potential to greatly improve the process of biomarker
identification