Comparison of blood serum peptide enrichment methods by Tricine SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry (original) (raw)

Endogenous plasma Peptide detection and identification in the rat by a combination of fractionation methods and mass spectrometry

Biomarker insights, 2007

Mass spectrometry-based analyses are essential tools in the field of biomarker research. However, detection and characterization of plasma low abundance and/or low molecular weight peptides is challenged by the presence of highly abundant proteins, salts and lipids. Numerous strategies have already been tested to reduce the complexity of plasma samples. The aim of this study was to enrich the low molecular weight fraction of rat plasma. To this end, we developed and compared simple protocols based on membrane filtration, solid phase extraction, and a combination of both. As assessed by UV absorbance, an albumin depletion >99% was obtained. The multistep fractionation strategy (including reverse phase HPLC) allowed detection, in a reproducible manner (CV < 30%-35%), of more than 450 peaks below 3000 Da by MALDI-TOF/MS. A MALDI-TOF/MS-determined LOD as low as 1 fmol/muL was obtained, thus allowing nanoLC-Chip/MS/MS identification of spiked peptides representing ~10(-6)% of total...

An integrated serum proteomic approach capable of monitoring the low molecular weight proteome with sequencing of intermediate to large peptides

… in Mass Spectrometry, 2009

The low-abundance, low molecular weight serum proteome has high potential for the discovery of new biomarkers using mass spectrometry (MS). Because the serum proteome is large and complex, defining relative quantitative differences for a molecular species between comparison groups requires an approach with robust separation capability, high sensitivity, as well as high mass resolution. Capillary liquid chromatography (cLC)/MS provides both the necessary separation technique and the sensitivity to observe many low-abundance peptides. Subsequent identification of potential serum peptide biomarkers observed in the cLC/MS step can in principle be accomplished by in series cLC/MS/MS without further sample preparation or additional instrumentation. In this report a novel cLC/MS/MS method for peptide sequencing is described that surpasses previously reported size limits for amino acid sequencing accomplished by collisional fragmentation using a tandem time-of-flight MS instrument. As a demonstration of the approach, two low-abundance peptides with masses of $4000-5000 Da were selected for MS/MS sequencing. The multi-channel analyzer (MCA) was used in a novel way that allowed for summation of 120 fragmentation spectra for each of several customized collision energies, providing more thorough fragmentation coverage of each peptide with improved signal to noise. The peak list from this composite analysis was submitted to Mascot for identification. The two index peptides, 4279 Da and 5061 Da, were successfully identified. The peptides were a 39 amino acid immunoglobulin G heavy chain variable region fragment and a 47 amino acid fibrin alpha isoform C-terminal fragment. The method described here provides the ability both to survey thousands of serum molecules and to couple that with markedly enhanced cLC/MS/MS peptide sequencing capabilities, providing a promising technique for serum biomarker discovery.

Liquid chromatography and electrospray mass spectrometric mapping of peptides from human plasma filtrate

Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 1999

We present a multidimensional approach to map the composition of complex peptide mixtures obtained as crude extract from biological liquids by (1) cation exchange chromatography and (2) subsequent microbore reversed-phase liquid chromatography and electrospray mass spectrometry coupling (LC-MS). Human hemofiltrate is an equivalent to blood and is used to obtain peptide material in large quantities from patients with chronic renal failure. The upper exclusion limit of the filtration membranes used results in a protein-free filtrate containing peptides in a range up to 20 ku. Using this unique peptide source, several thousand peptides were detected and an LC-MS data base of circulating human peptides was created. The search for known peptides by their molecular mass is a reliable method to guide peptide purification. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 1999, 10, 45-54)

Enrichment of low molecular weight fraction of serum for MS analysis of peptides associated with hepatocellular carcinoma

Proteomics, 2006

A challenging aspect of biomarker discovery in serum is the interference of abundant proteins with identification of disease-related proteins and peptides. This study describes enrichment of serum by denaturing ultrafiltration, which enables an efficient profiling and identification of peptides up to 5 kDa. We consistently detect several hundred peptide-peaks in MALDI-TOF and SELDI-TOF spectra of enriched serum. The sample preparation is fast and reproducible with an average CV for all 276 peaks in the MALDI-TOF spectrum of 11%. Compared to unenriched serum, the number of peaks in enriched spectra is 4 times higher at an S/N ratio of 5 and 20 times higher at an S/N ratio of 10. To demonstrate utility of the methods, we compared 20 enriched sera of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 20 age-matched controls using MALDI-TOF. The comparison of 332 peaks at p < 0.001 identified 45 differentially abundant peaks that classified HCC with 90% accuracy in this small pilot study. Direct TOF/TOF sequencing of the most abundant peptide matches with high probability des-Ala-fibrinopeptide A. This study shows that enrichment of the low molecular weight fraction of serum facilitates an efficient discovery of peptides that could serve as biomarkers for detection of HCC as well as other diseases.

New method for peptide desorption from abundant blood proteins for plasma/serum peptidome analyses by mass spectrometry

Journal of Proteomics, 2011

This report describes a new method for desorption of low-molecular weight (LMW) peptides from abundant blood proteins for use in subsequent mass spectrometry analyses. Heating of diluted blood serum to 98°C for 15 min resulted in dissociation of LMW peptides from the most abundant blood proteins. Application of blood plasma/serum fractionation using magnetic beads with a functionalized surface followed by heating of the resultant fractions significantly increases the number of LMW peptides detected by MALDI-TOF MS, enhances the general reproducibility of mass spectrometry profiles and considerably increases the number of identified blood serum peptides by LC-MS/MS using an Agilent 6520 Accurate-Mass Q-TOF.

Towards stable diagnostic setups in clinical proteomics: Absolute quantitation of peptide biomarkers using MALDI-TOF-MS

PROTEOMICS – CLINICAL APPLICATIONS, 2007

In routine clinical diagnostics, peptide biomarkers are most commonly quantified using immunological techniques but these methods often lack sensitivity and/or specificity. Hence, quantitative mass spectrometry detection is desirable as an alternative diagnostic tool. To date, quantitative mass spectrometry is mostly based on ESI-MS coupled to LC, requiring highly sophisticated instrumentation and knowledge and is time consuming and expensive. In contrast, MALDI-TOF-MS is a very simple, sensitive and rapid method for the detection of peptide biomarkers. However, the infeasibility of absolute quantification has been a tremendous handicap to the use of MS in stable clinical diagnostics. Here, we describe the development of a technical platform based on ClinProt particles and heavy-isotope internal peptide standards for the fast and reliable preparation of samples. This combines the advantages of MALDI-TOF as a read-out system with absolute quantitation of peptide biomarkers. As a proof-of-concept, this platform was successfully employed for the absolute determination of the concentration of the highly abundant serum peptide des-Ala-Fibrinopeptide A in 45 serum samples from healthy donors. Such technology essentially contributes to the development of a stable MALDI-TOF-MS-based clinical assay.