Accelerated tryptic digestion for the analysis of biopharmaceutical monoclonal antibodies in plasma by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection

Accelerated tryptic digestion of a therapeutic protein including microwave irradiation and thermal transfer by convection at 60 °C and 37 °C was investigated. An analytical setup was devised to follow the protein digestion rate using 1D gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography coupled a triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer. The formation kinetic of its tryptic peptides was monitored in the selected monitoring mode (LC-SRM/MS). Different digestion end points (e.g. 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 min) as well as an overnight digestion were tested using a therapeutic human monoclonal antibody (mAb) with the goal of its LC-SRM/MS quantification in human plasma. The peptides from the human mAb were generated at different rates and were classified into three categories: (1) the fast forming peptides, (2) the slow forming peptides and (3) the peptides degrading over time. For many monitored peptides, a heating temperature of 37 °C with a 750 rpm mixing applied for at least 30 min provided equivalent results to microwave-assisted digestion and generally allowed the achievement of an equivalent peptide concentration as an overnight digestion carried out at 37 °C. The disappearance of the protein of the heavy and light chains can be monitored by 1D gel electrophoresis but was found not to be representative of the final tryptic peptide concentrations. For quantitative purposes a stable isotope labeled version (¹³C₄, ¹⁵N₁) of the therapeutic protein was used. The labeled protein as internal standard was found to be very efficient to compensate for incomplete digestion or losses during sample preparation.     

A modified peptide mapping strategy for quantifying site-specific deamidation by electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A modified peptide mapping strategy using electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC/MS) provides an improved measure of deamidation by performing proteolytic digestion at low temperature (4 degrees C), low pH (6.0) and in organic solvent (> or =10% acetonitrile). HPLC resolution of the native (N) and deamidated (D) peptides is achieved, and the ratio of ion counts is converted into percent deamidation. The percent deamidation is established for a reference lot using a time course of digestion (24-120 h) and extrapolation to time zero. Test samples are compared against the reference lot to quantitate changes in site-specific deamidation. A recombinant purified protein (antigen A) having a single labile Asn-Gly site is analyzed using this strategy. The N and D peptides from an endoproteinase Lys C (Lys C) digestion (pH 6, 4 degrees C) resolve to near homogeneity on HPLC which results in equivalent percent deamidation when calculated by either UV or ion counts. Deamidation increases with time and pH of proteolysis. Lys C peptide maps of antigen A and bovine serum albumin (BSA) digested at pH 5-8 are comparable. A Lys C digestion time course of a reference lot of antigen A extrapolates to 18% deamidation of the Asn-Gly site at time zero. This strategy may be generally applicable to protease-protein combinations for improved accuracy in measuring site-specific deamidation by peptide mapping LC/MS.     

On-column digestion of proteins in aqueous-organic solvents

Proteolytic digestion is an important step in protein identification by peptide mass mapping and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based peptide sequencing. Traditional methods of protein digestion require extended incubation times and have difficulty with proteolytically resistant proteins. Here, we describe a method in which a protein solution was combined with a mixed aqueous-organic solution (methanol, isopropanol, or acetonitrile) and passed through a microcolumn containing immobilized trypsin. Myoglobin sequence coverage was high (>85%) in all three solvents, and differences in spectra were seen among the different solution conditions. Notably, methanol-based digestions produced fewer missed cleavages while acetonitrile-based digestions produced the most peptides and the most intense mass spectra. Flow rates through the column were varied from 0.5 to 15 micro L/min, corresponding to column residence times of 78 and 2.6 s, respectively. All flow rates produced high sequence coverage of myoglobin, although, at higher flow rates, more missed cleavages were observed. No significant increase in undigested myoglobin was observed with flow rates up to 15 micro L/min. The described method was applied to the digestion of human transferrin (hTf), a proteolytically resistant protein. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric (MALDI-TOFMS) analysis detected 42 peptides covering 46% of the hTf sequence. The traditional aqueous method resulted in 12 peptides (8% sequence coverage) only when high concentrations of trypsin were used. Lastly, digestion of low nanomolar myoglobin was shown to produce detectable peptides and resulted in a correct database hit. Thus, we demonstrate a method that is capable of rapid on-line digestion, thereby lending itself to high-throughput identification of proteins.     

Separation, detection, and identification of peptides by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry at high and low pH

Bioactive peptides and tryptic digests of various proteins were separated under acidic and alkaline conditions by ion-pair-reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPIPC) in 200 microm I.D. monolithic, poly(styrene-divinylbenzene)-based capillary columns using gradients of acetonitrile in 0.050% aqueous trifluoroacetic acid, pH 2.1, or 1.0% triethylamine-acetic acid, pH 10.6. Chromatographic performances with mobile phases of low and high-pH were practically equivalent and facilitated the separation of more than 50 tryptic peptides of bovine serum albumin within 15-20 min with peak widths at half height between 4 and 10 s. Neither a significant change in retentivity nor efficiency of the monolithic column was observed during 17-day operation at pH 10.6 and 50 degrees C. Upon separation by RP-HPIPC at high-pH, peptide detectabilities in full-scan negative-ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (negESI-MS) were about two to three times lower as compared to RP-HPIPC at low-pH with posESI-MS detection. Tandem mass spectra obtained by fragmentation of deprotonated peptide ions in negative ion mode yielded interpretable sequence information only in a few cases of relatively short peptides. However, in order to obtain sequence information for peptides separated with alkaline mobile phases, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) could be performed in positive ion mode. The chromatographic selectivities were significantly different in separations performed with acidic and alkaline eluents, which facilitated the fractionation of a complex peptide mixture obtained by the tryptic digestion of 10 proteins utilizing off-line, two-dimensional RP-HPIPC at high pH x RP-HPIPC at low pH and subsequent on-line identification by posESI-MS/MS.     

Peptide map procedure using immobilized protease cartridges in tandem for disulfide linkage identification of neu differentiation factor epidermal growth factor domain

Immobilized proteolytic enzyme cartridges were used to rapidly digest neu differentiation factor EGF domain in order to obtain improved peptide maps useful for assignment of disulfide linkages. The procedure described here involves an on-line digestion of proteins using immobilized trypsin and endoproteinase Glu-C cartridges connected in series, followed by on-line RP-HPLC separation of the peptides. The entire process can be automated using a commercially available workstation; and the total time required for both proteolytic digestion and the HPLC separation can be shortened to within 1 h. Using these immobilized columns, we demonstrated that disulfide structure assignment of the EGF domains of recombinant human neu differentiation factor can be performed by isolation of individual disulfide-containing peptides followed by assignment of disulfide linkages with prompt fragmentation of peptides using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The use of immobilized protease cartridges in tandem eliminates undesirable digestion artifacts associated with longer digestion time and higher protease-to-substrate ratio and results in the development of a reproducible and high quality peptide map.     

Design of a sheathless capillary eletrophoresis-mass spectrometry probe for operation with a Z-spray ionization source

The construction of a sheathless interface for capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (CE-ESI-MS), for operation with a Z-Spray source on a Micromass Quattro-LC triple quadrupole mass spectrometer is described. Designing the interface involved machining a probe compatible with the setup already in place on the mass spectrometer, i.e., MegaFlow-Z ESI. The probe was made of Lexan with the same dimensions as the ESI probe supplied with the instrument. The electrical connection at the electrospray end of the CE capillary was made possible by gold-coating (sheathless CE-ESI-MS). The probe design as well as the electrical and power supply requirements are described in detail. Experiments were performed using this interface, and CE separations of mixtures containing pmole and sub-pmole amounts of peptides were monitored by on-line MS. For a standard peptide mixture (10(-4) M), separation efficiency was typically characterized by N > 10(4) theoretical plates with S/N > 400. Using the same experimental setup, it was also possible to conduct on-line CE-ESI-tandem MS (MS/MS) experiments on the same peptide mixture, and to determine the sequence of the peptides. MS/MS scan functions for different precursor ions were used either alternately or sequentially and the results from both methods were compared. The possibility of peptide mass mapping was explored, and CE-ESI-MS results were obtained for the digestion products of equine myoglobin. Separation efficiencies and S/N values were similar to those obtained for standard peptides. A complete map of the digestion products was obtained.     

Hydrophilic properties as a new contribution for computer-aided identification of short peptides in complex mixtures

A new method to predict elementary amino acid (AA) composition of peptides (molar mass <1,000 g/mol) is described. This procedure is based on a computer-aided method using three combined analyses-reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) and capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry-and using a software calculating all possible amino acid combinations from the mass of any given peptide. The complementarity between HILIC and RPLC was demonstrated. Peptide retention prediction in HILIC was successfully modelled, and the achieved prediction accuracy was as high as r2=0.97. This mathematical model, based on amino acid retention contributions and peptide length, provided the information about peptide hydrophilicity that was not redundant with its hydrophobicity. Correlations between respectively the hydrophobicity coefficients and RPLC retention time, hydrophilicity and HILIC retention time, and electrophoretic mobility and migration time were used for ranking all potential AA combinations corresponding to the given mass. The essential contribution of HILIC in this identification strategy and the need to combine the three models to significantly increase identification capabilities were both shown. Applied to an 18-standard peptide mixture, the identification procedure enabled the actual AA combination determination of the 14 di- to pentapeptides, in addition to an over 98 % reduction of possible combination numbers for the four hexapeptides. This procedure was then applied to the identification of 24 unknown peptides in a rapeseed protein hydrolysate. The effective AA composition was found for ten peptides, whereas for the 14 other peptides, the number of possible combinations was reduced by over 95 % thanks to the association of the three analyses. Finally, as a result of the information provided by the analytical techniques about peptides present in the mixture, the proposed method could become a highly valuable tool to recover bioactive peptides from undefined protein hydrolysates.     

Fast protein sequence determination with matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry

Measurement and identification of digested peptides by matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is demonstrated. Synthetic human parathyroid hormone, pTH (1-34), with a molecular mass of 4117.8 Da was digested with carboxypeptidases Y and B and the sequence of 14 amino acids from the C-terminus of the peptide was determined by analyzing the molecular mass of the truncated peptides. Furthermore, a tryptic digestion of pTH (1-34) was carried out and a molecular mass map of pTH (1-34) was obtained. With the results of the proteolytic digestion a rapid confirmation of the amino-acid sequence of the protein was possible. It is shown that the results of the tryptic digestion can be used for the unambiguous identification of the amino acid residues Lys and Arg, which cannot be distinguished with a mass spectrometer because of their equal nominal masses. Several advantages of amino acid sequence determination by the combination of digestion and LDI-MS are obvious: high sensitivity in the low pmol range, fast digestion time due to high enzyme/substrate ratios, quantification is unnecessary because the amino acids are identified by their molecular mass differences, the low chemical expenditure for the digestions and the accuracy of the sequence determination. Measurements with LDI-MS are fast: sample preparation and the measurement take only a few min. The mass determination and amino acid sequence is completely unimpaired by amino acid contaminations or impurities in the sample. The sensitivity of the method is in the low pmol to fmol range and thus comparable to other analytical methods.     

First approach based on direct ultrasonic assisted enzymatic digestion and capillary-high performance liquid chromatography for the peptide mapping of soybean proteins

This work proposes, for the first time, the use of a high intensity ultrasonic probe to accelerate the tryptic digestion of soybean proteins. Different digestion parameters were optimized: protein extracting solution, reduction, and alkylation conditions (time, concentration, and temperature), trypsin:protein ratio, and ultrasonic conditions (sonication amplitude and time). Separation of peptide profiles was carried out by capillary-HPLC. The effect of the variation of chromatographic conditions (elution gradient, column temperature, and injection volume) on peptide separation was also studied using two capillary-HPLC columns with different column diameters and particle sizes. Moreover, samples were focused at the top of the column in order to obtain an increasing sensitivity without loss of efficiency. This method was successfully applied to the profiling of soybean peptides from transgenic and non-transgenic soybeans and from different pigmented beans commercialized as soybeans.     

Primary structural determination of N-terminally blocked peptides from the bark of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv by mass spectrometric analysis

Sequencing of N-terminally blocked proteins/peptides is a challenge since these molecules inhibit processing by Edman degradation. By using high accuracy Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) tandem mass spectrometry and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), the primary structures of two novel N-terminally blocked antifungal peptides (EAFP1 and EAFP2), purified from the bark of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv, have been determined. The results show that the high mass accuracy provided by FTICR mass spectrometry is effective to determine the N-terminally blocking group, and can simplify the task of spectral interpretation and improve the precision of sequence determination. The combination of MALDI-TOFMS with carboxyl peptidase Y digestion was used to determine the C-terminal 36- and 27-residue sequences of EAFP1 and EAFP2, respectively, to provide the sequence linkage information for tryptic fragments. Compared with traditional peptide chemistry the advantage of mass spectrometric techniques is their simplicity, speed and sensitivity.     

New findings for in-gel digestion accelerated by high-intensity focused ultrasound for protein identification by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

New findings in sample treatment based on high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for protein digestion after polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis separation are presented. The following variables were studied: (i) sample volume; (ii) sonotrode diameter; (iii) previous protein denaturation; (iv) cooling; (v) enzyme concentration; and (vi) protein concentration. Results showed that positive protein identification could be done after protein separation by gel electrophoresis through peptide mass fingerprint (PMF) in a volume as low as 25 microL. The time needed was less than 2 min and no cooling was necessary. The importance of the sonotrode diameter was negligible. On the other hand, protein denaturation before sonication was a trade-off for the success of procedure here described. The protein coverage was raised from 5 to 30%, and the number of peptides matching the proteins was also increased in a percentage ranging 10-100% when the classical overnight treatment is compared with the proposed HIFU procedure. The minimum amount of protein that can be identified using the HIFU sample treatment by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was 0.06 microg. The lower concentration of trypsin successfully used to obtain an adequate protein digestion was 3.6 microg/mL.     

Phosphopeptide detection and sequencing by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry

A prototype matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization quadrupole time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) tandem mass spectrometer was used to sequence a series of phosphotyrosine-, phosphothreonine- and phosphoserine-containing peptides. The high mass resolution and mass accuracy of the instrument allowed the localization of one, three or four phosphorylated amino acid residues in phosphopeptides up to 3.1 kDa. Tandem mass spectra of two different phosphotyrosine peptides permitted amino acid sequence determination and localization of one and three phosphorylation sites, respectively. The phosphotyrosine immonium ion at m/z 216.04 was observed in these MALDI low-energy CID tandem mass spectra. Elimination of phosphate groups was evident from the triphosphorylated peptide but not from the monophosphorylated species. The main fragmentation pathway for the synthetic phosphothreonine-containing peptide and for phosphoserine-containing peptides derived from beta-casein and ovalbumin was the beta-elimination of phosphoric acid with concomitant conversion of phosphoserine to dehydroalanine and phosphothreonine to 2-aminodehydrobutyric acid. Peptide fragment ions of the b- and y-type allowed, in all cases, the localization of phosphorylation sites. Ion signals corresponding to (b-17), (b-18) and (y-17) fragment ions were also observed. The abundant neutral loss of phosphoric acid (-98 Da) is useful for femtomole level detection of phosphoserine-peptides in crude peptide mixtures generated by gel in situ digestion of phosphoproteins.     

Efficient enrichment and desalting of protein digests using magnetic mesocellular carbon foams in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

We demonstrate that magnetic mesocellular carbon foams (Mag-MCF-C) can be effectively used for enrichment and desalting of protein digests or peptides in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). The large mesocellular pores and surface area of Mag-MCF-C are likely to mainly contribute to high efficiency in enrichment and desalting of protein digests. The magnetic property of Mag-MCF-C enabled easy and simple enrichment and desalting process comprising adsorption, washing, and separation steps by using an external magnet. Following elution from Mag-MCF-C by using a matrix solution (CHCA in 70% ACN/0.1% TFA), the peptides were subjected to MALDI-MS analysis. As a result, MALDI mass spectra of peptides or tryptic protein digests were distinct even at a peptide concentration as low as 50 pM. The use of Mag-MCF-C resulted in significantly improved sequence coverage for protein identification when compared to other conventional methods. Mag-MCF-C will find applications in mass spectrometric analysis of low abundance peptides or protein digests with high sensitivity.     

Multifunctional nanoparticles composite for MALDI-MS: Cd2+-doped carbon nanotubes with CdS nanoparticles as the matrix, preconcentrating and accelerating probes of microwave enzymatic digestion of peptides and proteins for direct MALDI-MS analysis

For the first time, we utilized multifunctional nanoparticles composite (NPs composite) for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric (MALDI-MS) analysis of peptides and proteins. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes doped with Cd(2+) ions and modified with cadmium sulfide NPs were synthesized by a chemical reduction method at room temperature. The multifunctional NPs composite applied for the analysis of peptides and microwave-digested proteins in the atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion-trap and MALDI time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) was successfully demonstrated. The maximum detection sensitivity for peptides in MALDI-MS was achieved by the adsorption of negatively charged peptides onto the surfaces of NP composite through electrostatic interactions. The optimal conditions of peptide mixtures were obtained at 20 min of incubation time using 1 mg of NPs composite when the pH of the sample solution was kept higher than the pI values of peptides. The potentiality of the NP composite in the preconcentration of peptides was compared with that of the individual NP by calculating the preconcentration factors (PF) and found that the NPs composite showed a 4-6 times of PF than the other NPs. In addition, the NPs composite was also applied as heat-absorbing materials for efficient microwave tryptic digestion of cytochrome c and lysozyme from milk protein in MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. We believe that the use of NPs composite technique would be an efficient and powerful preconcentrating tool for MALDI-MS for the study of proteome research.     

A collision cross-section database of singly-charged peptide ions

A database of ion-neutral collision cross-sections for singly-charged peptide ions is presented. The peptides included in the database were generated by enzymatic digestion of known proteins using three different enzymes, resulting in peptides that differ in terms of amino acid composition as well as N-terminal and C-terminal residues. The ion-neutral collision cross-sections were measured using ion mobility (IM) spectrometry that is directly coupled to a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. The ions were formed by a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) ion source operated at pressures (He bath gas) of 2 to 3 torr. The majority (63%) of the peptide ion collision cross-sections correlate well with structures that are best described as charge-solvated globules, but a significant number of the peptide ions exhibit collision cross-sections that are significantly larger or smaller than the average, globular mobility-mass correlation. Of the peptide ions having larger than average collision cross-sections, approximately 71% are derived from trypsin digestion (C-terminal Arg or Lys residues) and most of the peptide ions that have smaller (than globular) collision cross-sections are derived from pepsin digestion (90%).     

Mass spectrometric study of the effects of hydrophobic surface chemistry and morphology on the digestion of surface-bound proteins

Our previous work has demonstrated that reversed-phase chromatographic micro-beads can be used to capture proteins from complex biological matrices and the surface-bound proteins can be enzymatically digested for protein identification by mass spectrometry (MS). Here we examine the peptides generated from digestion of proteins bound to various types of micro-bead surfaces in order to determine the effects of surface chemistry and surface morphology on the digestion process. Detailed examinations of site cleavages and sequence coverage are carried out for a tryptic digestion of cytochrome c adsorbed on reversed-phase polystyrene divinylbenzene (Poros R2 beads) versus C(18) bonded-phase silica beads. It is shown that although the surface does not completely hinder the digestion of cleavage sites of the protein, the digestion products are clearly different than those obtained from a solution digest. Specifically, a partial digestion results from surface digestion, resulting in a greater number of missed cleavages than a comparable solution digest. Subsequent comparisons of peptide mass maps generated from the digestion of various proteins on surfaces with altering chemistry (C(4), C(8), C(18), and R2 beads), or with different surface morphology, were performed. The results reveal that surface chemistry plays only a minor role in affecting the peptide mass maps, and surface morphology had no noticeable effects on the resulting peptide mass maps. It is also shown that the mass spectrometric detection method used to analyze the digested peptides can significantly influence the information content on cleavage sites and the extent of sequence coverage. The use of a combination of MALDI, LC/off-line MALDI, and LC/ESI MS is demonstrated to be crucial in revealing subtle changes in the peptide mass maps.     

Microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis of proteins combined with liquid chromatography MALDI MS/MS for protein identification

Simple and efficient digestion of proteins, particularly hydrophobic membrane proteins, is of significance for comprehensive proteome analysis using the bottom-up approach. We report a microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis (MAAH) method for rapid protein degradation for peptide mass mapping and tandem mass spectrometric analysis of peptides for protein identification. It uses 25% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) aqueous solution to dissolve or suspend proteins, followed by microwave irradiation for 10 min. This detergent-free method generates peptide mixtures that can be directly analyzed by liquid chromatography (LC) matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) without the need of extensive sample cleanup. LC-MALDI MS/MS analysis of the hydrolysate from 5 microg of a model transmembrane protein, bacteriorhodopsin, resulted in almost complete sequence coverage by the peptides detected, including the identification of two posttranslational modification sites. Cleavage of peptide bonds inside all seven transmembrane domains took place, generating peptides of sizes amenable to MS/MS to determine possible sequence errors or modifications within these domains. Cleavage specificity, such as glycine residue cleavage, was observed. Terminal peptides were found to be present in relatively high abundance in the hydrolysate, particularly when low concentrations of proteins were used for MAAH. It was shown that these peptides could still be detected from MAAH of bacteriorhodopsin at a protein concentration of 1 ng/microl or 37 fmol/microl. To evaluate the general applicability of this method, it was applied to identify proteins from a membrane protein enriched fraction of cell lysates of human breast cancer cell line MCF7. With one-dimensional LC-MALDI MS/MS, a total of 119 proteins, including 41 membrane-associated or membrane proteins containing one to 12 transmembrane domains, were identified by MS/MS database searching based on matches of at least two peptides to a protein.     

Improved detection specificity for plasma proteins by targeting cysteine-containing peptides with photo-SRM

Targeted mass spectrometry using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) has emerged as an alternative to immunoassays for protein quantification owing to faster development time and higher multiplexing capability. However, the SRM strategy is faced with the high complexity of peptide mixtures after trypsin digestion of whole plasma or the cellular proteome that most of the time causes contamination, irremediably, by interfering compounds in the transition channels monitored. This problem becomes increasingly acute when the targeted protein is present at a low concentration. In this work, the merit of laser-induced photo-dissociation in the visible region at 473 nm implemented in an hybrid quadrupole linear ion-trap mass spectrometer (photo-SRM) was evaluated for detection specificity of cysteine-containing peptides in a group of plasma proteins after tagging with a dabcyl chromophore. Compared with conventional SRM, photo-SRM chromatograms have improved detection specificity for most of peptides monitored. Comparison of the signals obtained for the best proteotypic peptides in SRM mode and those recorded by photo-SRM of cysteine-containing peptides for the same proteins reveals either increased (up to 10-fold) or similar signal to photo-SRM detection. Finally, photo-SRM has extended response linearity across a calibration plot obtained by diluting human plasma in rat plasma, down to the lowest concentrations. Hence, photo-SRM may advantageously complement conventional SRM in assay of proteins in complex biological matrices.     

Use of a porous silicon–gold plasmonic nanostructure to enhance serum peptide signals in MALDI-TOF analysis

Small peptides in serum are potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. The identification of peptide biomarkers in human plasma/serum has become an area of high interest in medical research. However, the direct analysis of peptides in serum samples using mass spectrometry is challenging due to the low concentration of peptides and the high abundance of high-molecular-weight proteins in serum, the latter of which causes severe signal suppression. Herein, we reported that porous semiconductor-noble metal hybrid nanostructures can both eliminate the interference from large proteins in serum samples and significantly enhance the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) yields of peptides captured on the nanostructure. Serum peptide fingerprints with high fidelity can be acquired rapidly, and successful discrimination of colorectal cancer patients based on peptide fingerprints is demonstrated.     

Quantitative carbamylation as a stable isotopic labeling method for comparative proteomics

A method was developed that uses urea to both solublize and isotopically label biological samples for comparative proteomics. This approach uses either light or heavy urea ((12)CH(4)(14)N(2)O or (13)CH(4)(15)N(2)O, respectively) at a concentration of 8 M and a pH of 7 to dissolve the samples prior to digestion. After the sample is digested using standard proteomic protocols and dried, isotopic labeling is completed by resuspending the sample in a solution of 8 M urea at a pH of 8.5, using the same isotopic species of urea as used for digestion and incubating for 4 h at 80 degrees C. Under these conditions, carbamylation occurs only on the primary amines of the peptides. The effects of complete carbamylation on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) (collision-induced dissociation (CID)) were examined. Peptides that had a C-terminal carbamylated lysine residue were found to have a reduced intensity when viewed by MALDI-TOFMS. CID of a tryptic peptide that was carbamylated on both the N-terminus and the C-terminus was found to have a more uniform distribution of b- and y-ions, as well as prominent ions from loss of water. Reversed-phase chromatography coupled to ESI-MS/MS was used to identify and quantify the isotopically labeled standard proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA), bovine transferrin, and bovine alpha-casein. Quantitative error between theoretical and observed data ranged from 1.7-10.0%. Relative standard deviations for protein quantitation ranged from 5.2-27.8% over a dynamic range from 0.1-10 (L/H). The development of a method utilizing urea-assisted carbamylation of lysines and N-termini to globally labeled samples for comparative proteomics may prove useful for samples that require a strong chaotrope prior to proteolysis.