METTALOTHIONEIN SENSING USING MOLECULARLY IMPRINTED POLYMERS COUPLED LASER ABLATION INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

In this work, we report a facile method for a detection of mettalothionein (MT) - potential biomarker of tumor diseases. Combination of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma coupled to mass spectrometric detection (LA-ICP-MS) with sample pretreatment by magnetic particles modified by molecularly imprinted polymers (Mag-MIP) enables selective and sensitive protein detection and quantification. After Mag-MIP MT extraction, elements specific for the protein (S, Zn and Cd) were detected in healthy pig skin and pig melanoma tissue using MeLiM (Melanoma-bearing-Libechov-Minipig) model. It was found that levels of detected elements were significantly elevated in melanoma tissue compared to healthy skin. Currently, the investigation of MT dimerization in cancer progression is carried out taking advantage from easily controllable in vitro MT dimerization which is used for simple preparation of selective MIP extraction phase. Unlike other recognition elements, which are not always available for target analyte (e.g. antibodies), MIPs can be easily prepared as required. Moreover, magnetic particles as a MIP substrate enable elegant extraction approach and LA-ICP-MS provides extremely sensitive detection. Therefore, Mag-MIP-LA-ICP-MS is a unique cross-border combination of molecular and elemental analysis.