Astrocytes are fundamental in neural functioning and homeostasis in the central nervous system. These cells respond to injuries and pathological conditions through astrogliosis, a reactive process associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. This process is thought to begin in the early stages of these conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Monoclonal antibody-based treatment of cancer has been established as one of the most successful therapeutic strategies.
Materials & Methods: In this work, we developed a workflow based on an automated protein-A capture and LC-MS/MS analysis to quantify bevacizumab on patient serum during treatment. This analytical approach was fully validated and compared with a commercially available Monoclonal antibody-based treatment preparation (nanosurface and molecular-orientation limited kit).
Targeted mass spectrometry in the so-called multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) is certainly a promising way for the precise, accurate, and multiplexed measurement of proteins and their genetic or posttranslationally modified isoforms. MRM carried out on a low-resolution triple quadrupole instrument faces a lack of specificity when addressing the quantification of weakly concentrated proteins. In this case, extensive sample fractionation or immunoenrichment alleviates signal contamination by interferences, but in turn decreases assay performance and throughput.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquaporin-2 (AQP2) is a water channel protein located in the kidney collecting ducts that has been studied as a potential biomarker of a wide variety of water handling disorders and that could also be used to monitor lesions in the collecting ducts. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the most commonly used approach for protein assay in biofluids, has a limited potential for biomarker verification due to the restricted possibility to perform multiplex assays, the cost and complexity of assay development for new candidates. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, has been demonstrated as a powerful alternative technique, and applied to multiple protein quantification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe transfer of biomarkers from the discovery field to clinical use is still, despite progress, on a road filled with pitfalls. Since the emergence of proteomics, thousands of putative biomarkers have been published, often with overlapping diagnostic capacities. The strengthening of the robustness of discovery technologies, particularly in mass spectrometry, has been followed by intense discussions on establishing well-defined evaluation procedures for the identified targets to ultimately allow the clinical validation and then the clinical use of some of these biomarkers.
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