Label-free detection of proteins in ternary mixtures using surface-enhanced Raman scattering and protein melting profiles

The multiplex detection of biologically important molecules such as proteins in complex mixtures has critical importance not only in disease diagnosis but also in other fields such as proteomics and biotechnology. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful technique for multiplex identification of molecular components in a mixture. We combined the multiplexing power of SERS and heat denaturation of proteins to identify proteins in ternary protein mixtures. The heat denaturation profiles of four model blood proteins, transferrin, human serum albumin, fibrinogen, and hemoglobin, were studied with SERS. Then, two ternary mixtures of these four proteins were used to test the feasibility of the approach. It was demonstrated that unique denaturation profiles of each protein could be used for their identification in the mixture.