Displacement phenomena in lectin affinity chromatography

The work described here examines displacement phenomena that play a role in lectin affinity chromatography and their potential to impact reproducibility. This was achieved using Lycopersicon esculentum lectin (LEL), a lectin widely used in monitoring cancer. Four small identical LEL columns were coupled in series to form a single affinity chromatography system with the last in the series connected to an absorbance detector. The serial affinity column set (SACS) was then loaded with human plasma proteins. At the completion of loading, the column set was disassembled, the four columns were eluted individually, the captured proteins were trypsin digested, the peptides were deglycosylated with PNGase F, and the parent proteins were identified through mass spectral analyses. Significantly different sets of glycoproteins were selected by each column, some proteins appearing to be exclusively bound to the first column while others were bound further along in the series. Clearly, sample displacement chromatography (SDC) occurs. Glycoproteins were bound at different places in the column train, identifying the presence of glycoforms with different affinity on a single glycoprotein. It is not possible to see these phenomena in the single column mode of chromatography. Moreover, low abundance proteins were enriched, which facilitates detection. The great advantage of this method is that it differentiates between glycoproteins on the basis of their binding affinity. Displacement phenomena are concluded to be a significant component of the separation mechanism in heavily loaded lectin affinity chromatography columns. This further suggests that care must be exercised in sample loading of lectin columns to prevent analyte displacement with nonretained proteins.