Novel Chemical Methods for Labeling Small Peptides

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is designed to develop methods to chemically modify small peptide molecules for use primarily in non-radioactive, rapid, sensitive chemiluminescent immunoassays. Assay Designs, Inc. would like to replace the lengthy, complex radioactive immunoassays for small peptides with a rapid assay, reducing the incubation time from several days to a few hours. The research project will investigate the possibility of attaching chemiluminescent molecules to the N-terminal amino acid of a small peptide, and determining the effect of the change on the immunological binding. Several approaches are proposed to achieve this derivatization of the peptide. Researchers have chosen the neurologically active peptide, vasopressin as a suitable trial peptide. Current assay methods require the use of radioactive materials in procedures that take several days to complete. The purpose of this Phase I research is to test feasibility in chemically modifying vasopressin to attach chemiluminescent molecules that allow for rapid sensitive detection. The methods used will involve the attachment of chemiluminescent Acridinium esters and alkaline phosphatase systems to these small peptides. Researchers will also investigate small changes to the peptide sequence in order to allow easier introduction of such chemiluminescent molecules and labels. The methods used to chemically alter these peptides should be applicable to a large number of different small peptide molecules.