title: Harvesting Low Molecular Weight Biomarkers Using Gold Nanoparticles.
abstract: We developed and characterized a platform based on gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) coated with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) for harvesting positively charged, low molecular weight (LMW) proteins. The particles are synthesized using a layer by layer (LbL) procedure: first the gold NPs are coated with positively charged polyethylenimine (PEI) and subsequently with PAA. This simple procedure produces stable PAA-PEI-Au (PPAu) NPs with high selectivity and specificity. PPAu NPs successfully harvested, separated, and detected various LMW proteins and peptides from serum containing a complex mixture of abundant high molecular weight (HMW) proteins, including bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG). In addition, PPAu NPs selectively harvested and separated LMW proteins from serum in the presence of another positively charged competing protein. Furthermore, PPAu NPs successfully harvested a LMW biomarker in a mock diseased state. This system can be applied in various biomedical applications where selective harvesting and identifying of LMW proteins is required. A particularly useful application for this system can be found in early cancer diagnosis as described hereinafter.
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Luai R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Riki
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goldbart
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Traitel
authors.affiliation: †Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Giora
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Enden
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kost
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000737:chemistry; D002417:Cattle; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D015415:Biomarkers; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; C006903:carbopol 940; D006046:Gold
keywords: biomarker harvesting; cancer diagnosis; gold nanoparticles; layer by layer