TCEP-based rSDS-PAGE AND nLC-ESI-LTQ-MS/MS for oxaliplatin metalloproteomic analysis

In this work, the reactivity of the citostatic drugs such as oxaliplatin, cisplatin and carboplatin towards proteins and the stability of Pt-protein complexes along their storage were evaluated. Neither native-PAGE nor nrSDS-PAGE seems to be suitable for the separation of carboplatin-binding proteins. A reducing electrophoretic separation procedure able to maintain the integrity of oxaliplatin-protein complexes has been developed. The method is based on SDS-PAGE under conditions provided by the thiol-free reducing agent tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP), which allowed the separation of oxaliplatin-binding proteins in narrow bands with almost quantitative recoveries. Different amounts of platinum-bound protein bands covering the range 0.3-2.0 μg were excised and mineralised for platinum determination, showing good linearity. Limits of detection for a mixture of five standard proteins (transferrin, albumin, carbonic anhydrase, myoglobin and cytochrome c) incubated with oxaliplatin were within the range 11.0-44.0 pg of platinum, which were satisfactory for their application to biological samples. The suitability of the TCEP-based SDS-PAGE for the separation of platinum-enriched protein fractions of a kidney cytosol from a rat treated with oxaliplatin was demonstrated. The identification of high Pt to protein ratio cytosolic fractions was carried out by separating the cytosolic platinum-binding proteins by SEC-ICP-MS. Several cytosolic renal proteins were identified in those gel bands containing platinum-enriched protein fractions using nLC-ESI-LTQ-MS/MS after in-gel digested with trypsin. In addition, fractions containing platinum-enriched proteins with lower theorical molecular weight were directly analysed by nLC-ESI-LTQ-MS/MS after in-solution tryptic digestion allowing protein identification.