Express ELISA for detection of mortalin.

Mortalin is a widely studied stress chaperone that plays a significant role in diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis, neurodegeneration and generalized aging. Based on these, the level of mortalin expression has been predicted to be an important and valuable diagnostic and prognostic marker. Conventional methods of protein analyses, such as Western blotting, immunohistochemistry or ELISA with antibodies provide specific, sensitive and useful outcomes. However, they are limited by lengthy and time-consuming protocols. Here, we present an upgrade to the existing ELISA techniques. We have prepared a conjugate of anti-mortalin antibody and luciferase enzyme that can be recruited for rapid (∼3 h) and quantitative detection of mortalin expression in a given biological sample.