Interest of major serum protein removal for Surface-Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization - Time Of Flight (SELDI-TOF) proteomic blood profiling

Background Surface-Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization – Time Of Flight (SELDI-TOF) has been proposed as new approach for blood biomarker discovery. However, results obtained so far have been often disappointing as this technique still has difficulties to detect low-abundant plasma and serum proteins. Results We used a serum depletion scheme using chicken antibodies against various abundant proteins to realized a pre-fractionation of serum prior to SELDI-TOF profiling. Depletion of major serum proteins by immunocapture was confirmed by 1D and 2D gel electrophoresis. SELDI-TOF analysis of bound and unbound (depleted) serum fractions revealed that this approach allows the detection of new low abundant protein peaks with satisfactory reproducibility. Conclusion The combination of immunocapture and SELDI-TOF analysis opens new avenues into proteomic profiling for the discovery of blood biomarkers.