Robust and high-throughput lipidomic quantitation of human blood samples using flow injection analysis with tandem mass spectrometry for clinical use.

Direct infusion of lipid extracts into the ion source of a mass spectrometer is a well-established method for lipid analysis. In most cases, nanofluidic devices are used for sample introduction. However, flow injection analysis (FIA) based on sample infusion from a chromatographic pump can offer a simple alternative to shotgun-based approaches. Here, we describe important modification of a method based on FIA and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). We focus on minimizing contamination of the FIA/MS both to render the lipidomic platform more robust and to increase its capacity and applicability for long-sequence measurements required in clinical applications. Robust validation of the developed method confirms its suitability for lipid quantitation in human plasma analysis. Measurements of standard human plasma reference material (NIST SRM 1950) and a set of plasma samples collected from kidney cancer patients and from healthy volunteers yielded highly similar results between FIA-MS/MS and ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC)/MS, thereby demonstrating that all modifications have practically no effect on the statistical output. Newly modified FIA-MS/MS allows for the quantitation of 141 lipid species in plasma (11 major lipid classes) within 5.7 min. Finally, we tested the method in a clinical laboratory of the General University Hospital in Prague. In the clinical setting, the method capacity reached 257 samples/day. We also show similar performance of the classification models trained based on the results obtained in clinical settings and the analytical laboratory at the University of Pardubice. Together, these findings demonstrate the high potential of the modified FIA-MS/MS for application in clinical laboratories to measure plasma and serum lipid profiles.

Epidemiology of rare diseases detected by newborn screening in the Czech Republic.

OBJECTIVES: Presymptomatic detection of patients with rare diseases (RD), defined by a population frequency less than 1 : 2,000, is the task of newborn screening (NBS). In the Czech Republic (CZ), currently eighteen RD are screened: phenylketonuria/hyperphenylalaninemia (PKU/HPA), congenital hypothyroidism (CH), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), cystic fibrosis (CF), medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD), long chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD), very long chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (VLCADD), carnitine palmitoyl transferase I and II deficiency (CPTID, CPTIID), carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase deficiency (CACTD), maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), glutaric aciduria type I (GA I), isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (IVA), argininemia (ARG), citrullinemia (CIT), biotinidase deficiency (BTD), cystathionine beta-synthase-deficient homocystinuria (CBSD HCU), and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase deficiency homocystinuria (MTHFRD HCU). The aim was to analyze the prevalence of RD screened by NBS in CZ. METHODS: We examined the NBS programme in CZ from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2017, which covered 888,891 neonates. Dried blood spots were primarily analyzed using fluorescence immuno-assay, tandem mass spectrometry and fluorimetry. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of RD among the neonate cohort was 1 : 1,043. Individually, 1 : 2,877 for CH, 1 : 5,521 for PKU/HPA, 1 : 6,536 for CF (1 : 5,887 including false negative patients), 1 : 12,520 for CAH, 1 : 22,222 for MCADD, 1 : 80,808 for LCHADD, 1 : 177,778 for GA I, 1 : 177,778 for IVA, 1 : 222,223 for VLCADD, 1 : 296,297 for MSUD, 1 : 8,638 for BTD, and 1 : 181,396 for CBSD HCU. CONCLUSIONS: The observed prevalence of RD, based on NBS, corresponds to that expected, more precisely it was higher for BTD and lower for MSUD, IVA, CBSD HCU, MCADD and VLCADD. Early detection of rare diseases by means of NBS is an effective secondary prevention tool.

Factors Influencing Parental Awareness about Newborn Screening.

Appropriate and timely education about newborn screening (NBS) helps to foster benefits such as prompt follow up, to promote parents' autonomy via informed consent and minimize the harms such as reducing the impact of NBS false-positive results. The aim of this study was to ascertain how mothers are informed about NBS in the Czech Republic and to identify the variables associated with awareness about NBS. The questionnaires evaluating awareness and its determinants were mailed to a random sample of 3000 mothers 3 months post-delivery. The overall response rate was 42%. We analysed 1100 questionnaires and observed that better awareness about NBS was significantly associated with age, parity, number of information sources, child health status, size of maternity hospital and an obstetrician as the source of prenatally obtained information. Although the majority of mothers (77%) in our study recalled being informed by a physician or nurse in the neonatal ward, results have revealed that over 40% of participants did not have sufficient awareness about the principal aspects of NBS. Several measures including seminars for healthcare providers and the development and distribution of new educational materials were adopted to improve parental education about NBS in the Czech Republic.

Simultaneous determination of cystathionine, total homocysteine, and methionine in dried blood spots by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and its utility for the management of patients with homocystinuria.

BACKGROUND: Disorders of homocysteine and B-vitamin metabolism represent a significant problem in clinical practice. Establishing the diagnosis requires specialized tests with demanding preanalytical requirements. To advance the detection of patients with these disorders, we developed a method for the simultaneous determination of cystathionine (Cysta), methionine (Met) and total homocysteine (tHcy) in dried blood spots (DBSs). METHODS: A punch from a DBS sample was mixed with a solution of isotopically labeled internal standards, and analytes were extracted using methanol/0.1% formic acid/0.5mol/L dithiothreitol. The extract was injected into an LC-MS/MS system operating in MRM mode. RESULTS: The analytical performance of the method employing DBS is adequate for its purpose and the type of sample. Compared with Cysta, tHcy and Met plasma levels, our method exhibited a negative bias between -3.8% and -42.2% due to the lower concentrations of these analytes in erythrocytes. The tHcy level and the Met/Cysta ratio in DBS enabled the clear detection of 12 patients with disorders of transsulfuration and with genetic and nutritional remethylation defects. CONCLUSIONS: The ease of collecting and transporting DBS samples may advance diagnostic procedures in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders and thromboembolism. Consequently, this approach may facilitate detection and simplify the monitoring of patients with homocystinuria.

Targeted metabolomic analysis of plasma samples for the diagnosis of inherited metabolic disorders.

Metabolomics has become an important tool in clinical research and diagnosis of human diseases. In this work we focused on the diagnosis of inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs) in plasma samples using a targeted metabolomic approach. The plasma samples were analyzed with the flow injection analysis method. All the experiments were performed on a QTRAP 5500 tandem mass spectrometer (AB SCIEX, U.S.A.) with electrospray ionization. The compounds were measured in a multiple reaction monitoring mode. We analyzed 50 control samples and 34 samples with defects in amino acid metabolism (phenylketonuria, maple syrup urine disease, tyrosinemia I, argininemia, homocystinuria, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase deficiency, ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, nonketotic hyperglycinemia), organic acidurias (methylmalonic aciduria, propionic aciduria, glutaric aciduria I, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric aciduria, isovaleric aciduria), and mitochondrial defects (medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency). The controls were distinguished from the patient samples by principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering. Approximately 80% of patients were clearly detected by absolute metabolite concentrations, the sum of variance for first two principle components was in the range of 44-55%. Other patient samples were assigned due to the characteristic ratio of metabolites (the sum of variance for first two principle components 77 and 83%). This study has revealed that targeted metabolomic tools with automated and unsupervised processing can be applied for the diagnosis of various IMDs.