For western blot analysis, gradient diluted rMSNOX protein (2, 1, and 0.5 µg) and 2 µg BSA (Sigma) were subjected to 12.5% SDS-PAGE, then transferred to an NC membrane. After blocking with 5% skimmed milk, the NC membrane was incubated with 10 µg/mL of cPlg (Cell Sciences, USA) or hFn (Sigma) for 2 h at 37 °C. After excessive washing with PBST, the membrane was incubated with rabbit anti-cPlg/hFn polyclonal antibody (1:1000; Cell Sciences) for 1 h at 37 °C, then incubated with HRP conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody (1:5000; Thermo) for 1 h at 37 °C. Membranes were visualized with a Basic Luminol ECL kit (Yeasen).
For ELISA analysis, the 96-well plates (Corning) were coated with 1 µg/well of cPlg, hFn or BSA (negative control). After blocking with 5% skimmed milk, wells were incubated with various amounts of rMSNOX protein (1, 0.5, 0.15, 0.125, 0.0625, and 0.03125 µg/well) at 37 °C for 1.5 h. After being washed, the wells were treated with rabbit anti-rMSNOX serum (1:500) at 37 °C for 1 h, followed by HRP conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody (1:5000; Thermo) at 37 °C for 1 h. TMB substrate solution and 2 M H2SO4 were added successively and OD450 nm values were measured as described above. The experiments were performed in triplicate.