Use of Capillary Electrophoresis Immunoassay to Search for Potential Biomarkers of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Human Platelets

Capillary electrophoresis immunoassay (CEI), also known as capillary western technology, is becoming a method of choice for screening disease relevant proteins and drugs in clinical trials. Reproducibility, sensitivity, small sample volume requirement, multiplexing antibodies for multiple protein labeling in the same sample, automated high-throughput ability to analyze up to 24 individual samples, and short time requirement make CEI advantageous over the classical western blot immunoassay. There are some limitations of this method, such as the inability to utilize a gradient gel (4%-20%) matrix, high background with unrefined biological samples, and commercial unavailability of individual reagents. This paper describes an efficient method for running CEI in a multiple assay setting, optimizing protein concentration and primary antibody titration in one assay plate, and providing user-friendly templates for sample preparation. Also described are methods for measuring pan TDP-43 and phosphorylated TDP-43 derivative in platelet lysate cytosol as part of the initiative in blood-based biomarker development for neurodegenerative diseases.