A Novel Molecularly Imprinted Polymer for the Selective Removal of Interfering Hemoglobin Prior to Whole Blood Analysis.

Bioanalytical assays are often affected by the presence of either exogenous or endogenous interfering matrix components, in samples assayed for the targeted analytes such as the disease associated biomarkers, in molecular diagnosis. Whole blood,as one of the most preferred samples, is known for its complex matrix andsometimes characterized to be ‘dirty’ due to presence of the interfering hemoglobin found in higher levels than the targeted analytes that often exist at trace levels. In this case, hemoglobin as the interferent poses a challenge when whole blood is directly introduced in to sensitive analytical instruments such as gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS/ MS) as sensitive and specific detection systems of choice. 

On the other hand, hemoglobin usually masks the targeted analytes from being easily detected, thus, clog the instrument’s components more especially the columns, which end up being plugged and inactivated during chromatographic separation, leading to interference, imprecise and inaccurate results after a few runs. Furthermore, when not removed, hemoglobin generally leads to matrix effects caused by its co-elution with the biomarkers, which are the targeted analytes. Consequently, prior to employing sensitive instruments with low detection and quantification limits, whole blood as a sample must undergo extensive sample preparation to eliminate the matrix interferents as well as to achieve even more accurate and precise results.(Read More)