BRAF protein immunoprecipitation, elution, and digestion from cell extract using a microfluidic mixer for mutant BRAF protein quantification by mass spectrometry.

This study utilized a microfluidic mixer for the sample pretreatment of cell extracts for target protein quantification by mass spectrometers, including protein immunoprecipitation and protein enzymatic digestion. The time of sample pretreatment was reduced and thus the throughput of quantitative mutant proteins was increased by using the proposed method. Whole cell lysates of the cancer cell line HT-29 with gene mutations were used as the sample. The target protein BRAF was immunoprecipitated using magnetic beads in a pneumatic micromixer. Purified protein was then eluted and digested by trypsin in another two micromixers to yield peptide fragments in the solution. Using stable isotope-labeled standard as the internal control, wild-type and mutant BRAF proteins were quantified using mass spectrometry, which could be used for cancer screening. Compared with conventional methods in which protein immunoprecipitation lasts overnight, the micromixer procedure takes only 1 h, likely improving the throughput of mutant BRAF protein quantification by mass spectrometry. Graphical abstract Three micromixers were used to reduce the sample pretreatment time of cell extracts for target protein quantification by mass spectrometers, including protein immunoprecipitation, protein elution, and protein enzymatic digestion.