Two-dimensional electrophoresis is a powerful technique, allowing the separation of thousands of proteins in a single analysis. The technology has the potential to be diagnostic for almost any disease state. Unfortunately, the present technology requires considerable expertise and has been limited mainly to research applications. Experimentation to design pre-case, integrated, two-dimensional gels will be performed. Protein samples from stimulated human lymphocytes will be separated and quantitatively analyzed as a test system for these gels. Phase II experimentation will examine the efficacy of these gels for cancer diagnosis and other specific clinical assays. The research will also examine methods for production of narrow-range, immobilized pH gradient isoelectric focusing gels. Several charged derivatives of acrylic acid will be investigated for their ability to be polymerized into polyacrylamide gels. In Phase II, these gels will be designed for specific pH ranges and clinical assays.
