31 May New Technology May Allow Urine Sampling Rather Than Blood Testing

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
R. Kenneth Marcus, FRSC & FAAAS
Professor of Chemistry
Clemson University

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Prof. Marcus: We had previously shown that chromatographic columns formed from aligned capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers were highly effective in analytical scale and preparative separations of proteins from diverse media.  The C-CP fibers are extracted from commodity fibers such as polyester, nylon, and polypropylene.  The key aspects in using the C-CP fibers are very high bed porosity and rapid protein-surface mass transfer, this allows for very rapid separations.  Packing of the fibers in narrow-bore polymer tubing (0.8 mm id x 1 cm long) allows them to be fixed to the end of a micropipette tip.  Urine samples of 10 microliter-to-milliliter volumes can be spun through on a microcentrifuge, washed with DI-water, and then eluted with a solvent.  Thus the proteins are isolated and pre-concentrated on the fiber surface.  The elution solvent can be chosen based on the analytical method employed (e.g., MALDI- or ESI-MS).  

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Prof. Marcus: What we have developed is best termed an enabling technology.  The use of urine rather blood as a sampling medium has obvious advantages.  Proteins in urine are very efficiently collected for subsequent survey and quantitative analysis in terms of identifying potential biomarkers.  In the case of sample-limited analysis, single nanomolar concentrations of spiked proteins can be extracted and detected by MALDI-MS from 1 microliter certified urine sample volumes.  Sensitivity can obviously be improved using larger volumes.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Prof. Marcus: Our group is looking for substantive collaborations with clinicians who are looking to expand their portfolio of urine-based biomarkers.  There are certainly other methods (which we have in-house), for adding molecular selectivity to the protein capture step.  There are any number of additional detection methods that can be applied following C-CP fiber capture, including ESI-MS, LC-coupled mass spectrometry, fluorescence, and indeed immunoassay approaches.  Collaboration and development agreements with sample preparation/clinical diagnostic supply companies is also of interest as there are existing patents that cover the underlying intellectual property.

Citation:

Benjamin T. Manard, Sarah M. H. Jones, R. Kenneth Marcus. Capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers for the rapid extraction of proteins from urine matrices prior to detection with MALDI-MS. PROTEOMICS – Clinical Applications, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/prca.201400081

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: R. Kenneth Marcus, FRSC & FAAAS, Professor of Chemistry, & Clemson University (2015). New Technology May Allow Urine Sampling Rather Than Blood Testing

Last Updated on May 31, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD