Protein purification technologies may speed drug discoveries
09/01/2004
EAST HILLS, N.Y.—A series of protein purification kits has been unveiled by Pall Corp. (www.pall.com) to aid proteomic researchers in the development of new drug therapies. The kits are designed to remove unwanted abundant proteins from human and animal-derived serum and plasma samples, helping researchers to unmask low abundant, low molecular weight protein biomarkers that offer hope for new drug discoveries, as well as the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases.
Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, their structures, functions, and particularly their interactions with genes in forming other proteins—a key to unlocking discovery of new drug treatments and illness diagnosis/ prevention. The demand for proteomic-based technologies is increasing (the market is expected to reach $3.3 billion by 2006) as scientists seek all-inclusive sample preparation kits to speed their work in protein analyses and drug discoveries.
Albumin and immunoglobulin G (igG) make up approximately 80 percent of the total protein content in human serum, necessitating a technology to deplete these abundant proteins so that critical protein analysis can be made. Pall's Enchant Life
Sciences Kit for Ablumin Depletion and two for igG purification are designed to provide researchers with needed protocol, purification columns and buffers for protein analysis. The albumin kit helps remove the abundant protein from samples in five steps that Pall says take about 10 minutes to complete. (The kit also includes a platform that eliminates the need to handle and pipette slurries.)
The two immunoglobulin G kits feature Protein A and Protein G affinity resins—bacterial cell wall proteins that have specificity to the igG antibody and that provide purification
emoval of igG in serum samples. The need to isolate igG from a serum sample is critical given the propensity of small proteins to be masked by the abundant protein. The igG purification kits, which can be used for purifying a variety of immunoglobulin molecules and isotypes, are reusable, gravity-based columns designed to offer high binding capacities for effective purification or depletion.
"We plan on launching additional purification kits that selectively target the unique, low-abundant proteins that researchers want to isolate," says Pall BioSciences President Ken Harris.