Application of recombinant peptides selected by phage display as biorecognition platforms in lateral flow assays for the diagnosis of breast cancer

• Grant number: 21/12307-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: March 20, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Maria Del Pilar Taboada Sotomayor
• Grantee: Rafael da Fonseca Alves
• Supervisor: Maria Isabel Pividori
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/10452-2 - Development of electrochemical biosensor and lateral flow device, low-cost for detection of neoplastic biomarkers, BP.DR

Abstract

Breast Cancer (BC), in Brazil, is the most frequent among women, after non-melanoma skin cancer. The origin of the disease is complex and involves several risk factors, including environmental, biological, and hereditary ones. Early detection is critical for effective treatment; however, current diagnostic strategies are limited. Thus, the search for more accurate and sensitive methods became the starting point for different scientific approaches. The Phage Display technique allows the selection of specific recombinant peptides for the most diverse molecular targets, providing versatile molecules. In a previous study, it was possible to select two peptides called C3 and H2 that bind to the surface of breast tumor cells. The selected peptides, in addition to having high affinity, purity and low cost, can be used in the development of immunoassays. In this sense, this project seeks to characterize the recognition profile of these peptides to mammary tumor proteins through the lateral flow method. For this, the extract of cytoplasm and membrane proteins from the MCF-10A mammary lineage will be used as a negative control (non-tumorigenic) and the mammary tumor lines MCF-7 (tumor with luminal phenotype) and MDA-MB123 (tumor with triple-negative phenotype) as positive controls. Furthermore, aiming to reduce the production costs of this analytical device, gold nanoparticles will be synthesized and modified with streptavidin, which will be used to interact with the peptides to generate the colorimetric response. After initial validation, and optimization of the construction and analysis parameters, it is expected that the C3 and H2 peptides will be efficient in the differentiation of the strains, in lateral flow assays. (AU)