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Euro Biotechnology 2016
November 07-09, 2016
Volume 6, Issue 7(Suppl) J Biotechnol Biomater
ISSN: 2155-952X JBTBM, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
November 07-09, 2016 Alicante, Spain
12th Euro Biotechnology Congress
Lucie Mareckova et al., J Biotechnol Biomater 2016, 6:7(Suppl)
Development of high-affinity protein binders for selective detection and separation of circulating
tumor cells (CTCs) by microfluidic chip technology
Lucie Mareckova and Petr Maly
Institute of Biotechnology CAS, v.v.i., Czech Republic
Most cancer-related deaths are caused by blood-borne metastasis initiated by circulating tumor cells (CTCs) identified in
blood stream. CTCs are heterogeneous population of cancer cells of yet not well defined composition which are thought
to be metastatic precursors. A population of CTCs which undergo the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process may
have enhanced ability to intravasate and to participate on distal metastases formation. Generally, occurrence of mesenchymal
CTCs phenotype is supposed to represent a higher risk in diagnosis of further metastatic cancer progression. The monitoring
of CTCs in peripheral blood of cancer patients represents an enormous potential for early non-invasive diagnostics of cancer
progression, identification of recurrence risks and real-time monitoring of treatment responses. The development of novel
types of high-affinity protein binders for epithelial and mesenchymal membrane markers of CTCs is a crucial step for the
development of tools for selective CTCs detection and monitoring such as microfluidic chip technology. Small artificial protein
binders represent a non-immunoglobulin alternative to antibodies and can be easily modified for the purpose of a chip design.
Moreover, they do not contain disulfide bridges, have sufficient thermal stability and are resistant to many organic solvents. In
addition, they can be easily produced en mass in E. coli strains. Protein binders targeting CTCs epithelial membrane marker
EpCAM or mesenchymal membrane marker N-Cadherin were developed and characterized. The most promising variants
will serve as captured proteins on the surface of a microfluidic chip for fast and more precise screening of patients with lung
adenocarcinoma.
Biography
Lucie Mareckova is currently a PhD student of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic. She is a Member of the
Laboratory of Ligand Engineering at the Institute of Biotechnology CAS, v.v.i., Czech Republic. Her research topic is focused on the development of novel protein
binders, derived from small protein domains, targeting diagnostically important molecules.