title: Fabrication of diverse pH-sensitive functional mesoporous silica for selective removal or depletion of highly abundant proteins from biological samples.
abstract: In proteomic studies, poor detection of low abundant proteins is a major problem due to the presence of highly abundant proteins. Therefore, the specific removal or depletion of highly abundant proteins prior to analysis is necessary. In response to this problem, a series of pH-sensitive functional mesoporous silica materials composed of 2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid units were designed and synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization. These functional mesoporous silica materials were characterized and their ability for adsorption and separation of proteins was evaluated. Possessing a pH-sensitive feature, the synthesized functional materials showed selective adsorption of some proteins in aqueous or buffer solutions at certain pH values. The specific removal of a particular protein from a mixed protein solution was subsequently studied. The analytical results confirmed that all the target proteins (bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, and lysozyme) can be removed by the proposed materials from a five-protein mixture in a single operation. Finally, the practical application of this approach was also evaluated by the selective removal of certain proteins from real biological samples. The results revealed that the maximum removal efficiencies of ovalbumin and lysozyme from egg white sample were obtained as 99% and 92%, respectively, while the maximum removal efficiency of human serum albumin from human serum sample was about 80% by the proposed method. It suggested that this treatment process reduced the complexity of real biological samples and facilitated the identification of hidden proteins in chromatograms.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous, Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Jiaojiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous, Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Jingfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous, Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Huihui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous, Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: liuxiaoy@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous, Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Haixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008689:Methacrylates / Q000737:chemistry*; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016062:Porosity; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008689:Methacrylates; D011506:Proteins; D012709:Serum Albumin; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D010047:Ovalbumin; D009113:Muramidase; C519537:diethylaminoethyl methacrylate
keywords: Atom transfer radical polymerization; Functional mesoporous silica; Highly abundant proteins; pH-sensitive