Affinity peptide developed by phage display selection for targeting gastric cancer.

Aim: To develop an affinity peptide that binds to gastric cancer used for the detection of early gastric cancer.

Methods: A peptide screen was performed by biopanning the PhD-12 phage display library, clearing non-specific binders against tumor-adjacent normal appearing gastric mucosa and obtaining selective binding against freshly harvested gastric cancer tissues. Tumor-targeted binding of selected peptides was confirmed by bound phage counts, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, competitive inhibition, fluorescence microscopy and semi-quantitative analysis on immunohistochemistry using different types of cancer tissues.