Prostate cancer serum biomarkers, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prostate specific antigen (PSA), are valuable markers of diagnosis, response to treatment and disease progression. Despite the expected benefits of using PSA to better manage the mortality and morbidity associated to prostate cancer, sample complexity and interference within analysis make its quantification in serum a high-cost and strenuous assignment. Here, we make use of the simple preparation, water-rich environment, and selectivity of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) to develop alternative serum pretreatment strategies. A set of ammonium- and phosphonium-based ionic liquids (ILs) were used as either main phase-forming agents in IL-salt ABS or as adjuvants in polymer-salt ABS, allowing to explore the IL designer solvent nature and versatile role in ABS formation and performance. Serum pretreatment efficiency was evaluated by the capacity of each ABS to simultaneously deplete high abundance serum proteins (immunoglobulin G, IgG, and human serum albumin, HSA) at the systems’ interphase (thus, generating a three-phase partitioning system – ABS-TPP) and extract PSA to a single ABS phase. Regardless of the ABS typology under appraisal (IL-salt or polymer-salt-IL), the proper design of the IL structure is critical for both the ability to deplete high abundance serum proteins and extract PSA. The results demonstrate that, in addition to the proper choice of the ABS typology, a careful adjustment of the IL hydrophobicity is key to achieve the simultaneous depletion of high-abundance proteins and complete PSA extraction in a single step, creating new approaches for PSA analysis and its application in diagnosis/prognosis.

前列腺癌血清生物标志物，例如美国食品和药物管理局 (FDA) 批准的前列腺特异性抗原 (PSA)，是诊断、治疗反应和疾病进展的有价值的标志物。尽管使用 PSA 可以更好地管理与前列腺癌相关的死亡率和发病率，但样本的复杂性和分析中的干扰使其在血清中的定量成为一项高成本且繁重的任务，具有预期的好处。在这里，我们利用水性双相系统（ABS）的简单制备、富含水的环境和选择性来开发替代血清预处理策略。一组铵基和磷基离子液体 (IL) 用作 IL 盐 ABS 中的主相形成剂或聚合物盐 ABS 中的助剂，允许探索 IL 设计师的溶剂性质以及在 ABS 形成和性能中的多功能作用。血清预处理效率通过每个 ABS 在系统间期同时消耗高丰度血清蛋白（免疫球蛋白 G、IgG 和人血清白蛋白，HSA）的能力来评估（从而生成三相分配系统 – ABS-TPP） ）并将 PSA 提取至单一 ABS 相。无论评估的 ABS 类型如何（IL-盐或聚合物盐-IL），IL 结构的正确设计对于消耗高丰度血清蛋白和提取 PSA 的能力都至关重要。结果表明，除了正确选择 ABS 类型之外，