Sweet characterisation of prostate specific antigen using electrochemical lectin-based immunosensor assay and MALDI TOF/TOF analysis: Focus on sialic acid

The construction of a sensitive electrochemical lectin-based immunosensor for detection of a prostate specific antigen (PSA) is shown here. Three lectins with different carbohydrate specificities were used in this study to glycoprofile PSA, which is the most common biomarker for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis.

The biosensor showed presence of α-L-fucose and α-(2,6)-linked terminal sialic acid within PSA´s glycan with high abundance, while only traces of α-(2,3)-linked terminal sialic acid were found. MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry was applied to validate results obtained by the biosensor with a focus on determination of a type of sialic acid linkage by two methods. The first direct comparison of electrochemical immunosensor assay employing lectins for PSA glycoprofiling with mass spectrometric techniques is provided here and both methods show significant agreement. Thus, electrochemical lectin-based immunosensor has potential to be applied for prostate cancer diagnosis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Proteomics. 2016 Feb 27 [Epub ahead of print]

Dominika Pihikova, Zuzana Pakanova, Marek Nemcovic, Peter Barath, Stefan Belicky, Tomas Bertok, Peter Kasak, Jan Mucha, Jan Tkac

Department of Glycobiotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Center of Excellence for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Center of Excellence for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Center of Excellence for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Department of Glycobiotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Department of Glycobiotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Centre for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar., Center of Excellence for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic., Department of Glycobiotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic.