Kold-Christensen R, Jensen KK, Smedegård-Holmquist E, Sørensen LK, Hansen J, Jørgensen KA, Kristensen P, Johannsen M. ReactELISA method for quantifying methylglyoxal levels in plasma and cell cultures.
Redox Biol 2019;
26:101252. [PMID:
31254735 PMCID:
PMC6604041 DOI:
10.1016/j.redox.2019.101252]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Revised: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 06/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Methylglyoxal (MG) is a toxic glycolytic by-product associated with increased levels of inflammation and oxidative stress and has been linked to ageing-related diseases, such as diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. As MG is a highly reactive dicarbonyl compound, forming both reversible and irreversible adducts with a range of endogenous nucleophiles, measuring endogenous levels of MG are quite troublesome. Furthermore, as MG is a small metabolite it is not very immunogenic, excluding conventional ELISA for detection purposes, thus only more instrumentally demanding LC-MS/MS-based methods have demonstrated convincing quantitative data. In the present work we develop a novel bifunctional MG capture probe as well as a high specificity monoclonal antibody to finally setup a robust reaction-based ELISA (ReactELISA) method for detecting the highly reactive and low-level (nM) metabolite MG in human biological specimens. The assay is tested and validated against the current golden standard LC-MS/MS method in human blood plasma and cell-culture media. Furthermore, we demonstrate the assays ability to measure small perturbations of MG levels in growth media caused by a small molecule drug buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) of current clinical relevance. Finally, the assay is converted into a homogenous (no-wash) AlphaLISA version (ReactAlphaLISA), which offers the potential for operationally simple screening of further small molecules capable of perturbing cellular MG. Such compounds could be of relevance as probes to gain insight into MG metabolism as well as drug-leads to alleviate ageing-related diseases.
MG is challenging to quantify, here we present a simple and specific ReactELISA based approach and validate against LC-MS/MS.
Sensitivity at low (nM) endogenous concentration in both human blood plasma and cell culture media.
Impact of BSO treatment of HEK293 cells can be profiled in culture media.
Potential use in cell-based phenotypic screen for small molecules modulating MG metabolism.
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