Selection and characterisation of Affimers specific for CEA recognition.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the only blood based protein biomarker at present, used for preoperative screening of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to determine the appropriate curative treatments and post-surveillance screening for tumour recurrence. Current diagnostics for CRC detection have several limitations and development of a highly sensitive, specific and rapid diagnostic device is required. The majority of such devices developed to date are antibody-based and suffer from shortcomings including multimeric binding, cost and difficulties in mass production. To circumvent antibody-derived limitations, the present study focused on the development of Affimer proteins as a novel alternative binding reagent for CEA detection. Here, we describe the selection, from a phage display library, of Affimers specific to CEA protein. Characterization of three anti-CEA Affimers reveal that these bind specifically and selectively to protein epitopes of CEA from cell culture lysate and on fixed cells. Kinetic binding analysis by SPR show that the Affimers bind to CEA with high affinity and within the nM range. Therefore, they have substantial potential for used as novel affinity reagents in diagnostic imaging, targeted CRC therapy, affinity purification and biosensor applications.

Efficient expression and purification of biologically active human cystatin proteins.

Cystatins are reversible cysteine protease inhibitor proteins. They are known to play important roles in controlling cathepsins, neurodegenerative disease, and in immune system regulation. Production of recombinant cystatin proteins is important for biochemical and function characterization. In this study, we cloned and expressed human stefin A, stefin B and cystatin C in Escherichia coli. Human stefin A, stefin B and cystatin C were purified from soluble fraction. For cystatin C, we used various chaperone plasmids to make cystatin C soluble, as it is reported to localize in inclusion bodies. Trigger factor, GroES-GroEL, DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE chaperones lead to the presence of cystatin C in the soluble fraction. Immobilized metal affinity chromatography, glutathione sepharose and anion exchange chromatography techniques were employed for efficient purification of these proteins. Their biological activities were tested by inhibition assays against cathepsin L and H3 protease.