title: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in fecal samples: rapid detection by surface plasmon resonance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The development of biosensors, based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology, enables monitoring of a variety of biospecific interactions without the need for chemical-, biological- or radiological-labelled reagents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We utilised SPR to detect hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in reconstituted faecal samples and studied samples from patients with infectious gastroenteritis (n = 20) and normal controls (n = 10). Mouse anti-human HGF monoclonal antibodies and recombinant human HGF receptor (c-Met)/Fc chimera were immobilised in flow cells of a CM5 biosensor chip.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that infectious gastroenteritis produced a higher signal response compared to controls, due to binding of HGF to monoclonal anti-HGF antibody as well as binding of HGF to c-Met receptor (p < 0.01). The SPR signal response correlated with results from ELISA (r = 72%, p > 0.001). The signal response decreased significantly (p < 0.05) when samples were diluted with dextran, because of reduction in both specific as well as unspecific binding of HGF to dextran. The decrease in the specific response might imply that the dextran- binding site for HGF overlaps with the antibody binding epitope, or that dextran binding induces a conformational change of the HGF molecule. Bands corresponding to HGF were found by gel electrophoresis of purified faeces in an affinity chromatography column immobilised by HGF ligands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Determination of HGF by SPR might be beneficial in diagnosis of acute situations that present with symptoms of gastroenteritis and may, possibly, guide appropriate medical treatments. This is to our knowledge the first report on the use of SPR for detection of HGF in faeces samples.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden. fariba.nayeri@lio.se
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nayeri
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aili
authors.forename: Tayeb
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nayeri
authors.forename: Junyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Almer
authors.forename: Ingemar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lundström
authors.forename: Britt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Akerlind
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liedberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003911:Dextrans / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000592:standards; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003911:Dextrans; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor