No abstract

Melanoma of the skin is the sixth most common type of cancer in Europe and accounts for 3.4% of all diagnosed cancers. More alarming is the degree of recurrence that occurs with approximately 20% of patients lethally relapsing following treatment. Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer and metastases rapidly extend to the regional lymph nodes (stage 3) and to distal organs (stage 4). Targeted oncotherapy is one of the standard treatment for progressive stage 4 melanoma, and BRAF inhibitors (e.g. vemurafenib, dabrafenib) combined with MEK inhibitor (e.g. trametinib) can effectively counter BRAFV600E-mutated melanomas. Compared to conventional chemotherapy, targeted BRAFV600E inhibition achieves a significantly higher response rate. After a period of cancer control, however, most responsive patients develop resistance to the therapy and lethal progression. The many underlying factors potentially causing resistance to BRAF inhibitors have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, the remaining unsolved clinical questions necessitate alternative research approaches to address the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic and treatment-resistant melanoma. In broader terms, proteomics can address clinical questions far beyond the reach of genomics, by measuring, i.e. the relative abundance of protein products, post-translational modifications (PTMs), protein localisation, turnover, protein interactions and protein function. More specifically, proteomic analysis of body fluids and tissues in a given medical and clinical setting can aid in the identification of cancer biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. Achieving this goal requires the development of a robust and reproducible clinical proteomic platform that encompasses automated biobanking of patient samples, tissue sectioning and histological examination, efficient protein extraction, enzymatic digestion, mass spectrometry-based quantitative protein analysis by label-free or labelling technologies and/or enrichment of peptides with specific PTMs. By combining data from, e.g. phosphoproteomics and acetylomics, the protein expression profiles of different melanoma stages can provide a solid framework for understanding the biology and progression of the disease. When complemented by proteogenomics, customised protein sequence databases generated from patient-specific genomic and transcriptomic data aid in interpreting clinical proteomic biomarker data to provide a deeper and more comprehensive molecular characterisation of cellular

The response currents obtained for tyrosinase-modified Teflon/graphite, carbon paste, and solid graphite electrodes in the presence of catechol are analyzed primarily using rotating disk electrode experiments. The rate-limiting steps, such as the electrochemical reduction of o-quinones and the enzymatic reduction of oxygen as well as the enzymatic oxidation of catechol, are theoretically considered and experimentally demonstrated for the different electrode configurations.

No abstract

The aim was to develop a fast generic enzyme flow immunoassay (EFIA) using a beta-galactosidase (beta-GAL) label in combination with colorimetric detection as well as with a new amperometric biosensor as the label detector. The amperometric biosensor was previously developed within the group for the determination of diphenols in surface water samples. Antigen (Ag, analyte), tracer (Ag*, antigen labeled with beta-GAL), and antibody (Ab) were incubated off-line. After the equilibrium was reached, the sample was introduced into the flow system. The antibody complexes, AgAb and Ag*Ab, were trapped in a protein G column while the free unbound tracer was eluted and detected by an amperometric biosensor downstream after substrate reaction. The enzyme label beta-GAL converted the substrate 4-aminophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (4-APG) into 4-aminophenol (4-AP), which subsequently was detected by a cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) modified solid graphite electrode. 4-AP was first oxidized at the electrode surface at +300 mV vs Ag/AgCl, and the formed 4-imino quinone (4-IQ) was reduced back to 4-AP by the CDH in the presence of cellobiose. By combining the EFIA with the CDH biosensor, the overall signal of one tracer molecule is amplified at two occasions, i.e., one enzyme label converts the substrate into many 4-AP molecules, and second these are further amplified by the CDH biosensor. The optimum conditions for the EFIA in terms of the molar ratio between tracer and beta-GAL, temperature, flow rate, etc., was investigated with colorimetric detection, using 2-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (2-NPG) as the beta-GAL substrate. The performance of both the colorimetric and CDH biosensor detection was investigated and both methods were applied for determination of the model compound atrazine in spiked surface water samples. Detection limits of 0.056 +/- 0.008 and 0.038 +/- 0.007 microg L(-1) and IC50 values of 2.04 +/- 0.294 and 0.42 +/- 0.08 microg L(-1) were obtained for colorimetric and CDH detection, respectively. Matrix effects were less pronounced with the CDH biosensor than with colorimetric detection.