Immunocompetence of the functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. Nanoparticles differentially functionalized were incubated with detergent extracts from GTL-16 (Met+) or Huh7 (Met−) cells; bound proteins were analyzed in SDS-PAGE and WB with anti-Met antibodies and secondary peroxidase-labelled anti-mouse IgG antibodies. Only, when the mAb and GTL-16 extracts are incubated together, could a band with 145 kDa molecular weight be detected, corresponding to the Met proteins, lanes 2, 4, and 8 in panel (a) and lanes 2, 4, and 6 in panel (b). When mAb was present in the incubated mixtures, a band 50 kDa, corresponding to the mAb heavy chain, was detectable (even lanes from #3).