Presenter: Marla MacKenzie

Title: “Development of Proteomic Testing Methods for Patients Diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A First Step Toward Personalized Medicine”

Biologic agents are often used in treatment of irritable bowel disease (IBD). Matching the appropriate biologic treatment to an individual can be a costly and time-consuming process of trial-and-error. Development of a laboratory protocol to positively match biologic treatments to an individual’s serum antibody profiles could create personalized treatment plans. This would require identification of novel, specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody patterns associated with gut mucosa-embedded antigens and association of these antigens with biologic treatment response. This study aimed to establish a serum IgG screening protocol wherein IgG can be reliably separated from serum and patterns visualized. A comparison of two extraction techniques: (i) melon gel and (ii) protein A/G for IgG extraction and purification followed by protein concentration assays, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) evaluated the efficacy and repeatability of the extraction methods. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) verified IgG presence in final extracts. Melon gel extraction followed by a protein precipitation cleanup process resulted in clear IgG bands in SDS-PAGE, reproducible spot patterns in 2DE, and confirmed presence of IgG which establishes these methods as a promising first step in the IgG pattern identification process.

Date/Time/Location: April 1, 2025, 1:00 pm, Health Sciences Building 323

Everyone is welcome.