Quantification of Activated NF-κB/RelA Complexes Using ssDNA Aptamer Affinity – Stable Isotope Dilution—Selected Reaction Monitoring—Mass Spectrometry

Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB) is a family of inducible transcription factors regulated by stimulus-induced protein interactions. In the cytoplasm, the NF-κB member RelA transactivator is inactivated by binding inhibitory IκBs, whereas in its activated state, the serine-phosphorylated protein binds the p300 histone acetyltransferase. Here we describe the isolation of a ssDNA aptamer (termed P028F4) that binds to the activated (IκBα-dissociated) form of RelA with a KDof 6.4 x 10–10, and its application in an enrichment-mass spectrometric quantification assay. ssDNA P028F4 competes with cognate duplex high affinity NF-κB binding sites for RelA binding in vitro, binds activated RelA in eukaryotic nuclei and reduces TNFα-stimulated endogenous NF-κB dependent gene expression. Incorporation of P028F4 as an affinity isolation step enriches for serine 536 phosphorylated and p300 coactivator complexed RelA, simultaneously depleting IκBα·RelA complexes. A stable isotope dilution (SID)-selected reaction monitoring (SRM)- mass spectrometry (MS) assay for RelA was developed that produced a linear response over 1,000 fold dilution range of input protein and had a 200 amol lower limit of quantification. This multiplex SID-SRM-MS RelA assay was used to quantify activated endogenous RelA in cytokine-stimulated eukaryotic cells isolated by single-step P028F4 enrichment. The aptamer-SID-SRM-MS assay quantified the fraction of activated RelA in subcellular extracts, detecting the presence of a cytoplasmic RelA reservoir unresponsive to TNFα stimulation. We conclude that aptamer-SID-SRM-MS is a versatile tool for quantification of activated NF-κB/RelA and its associated complexes in response to pathway activation.