Dissecting diazirine photo-reaction mechanism for protein residue-specific cross-linking and distance mapping.

While photo-cross-linking (PXL) with alkyl diazirines can provide stringent distance restraints and offer insights into protein structures, unambiguous identification of cross-linked residues hinders data interpretation to the same level that has been achieved with chemical cross-linking (CXL). We address this challenge by developing an in-line system with systematic modulation of light intensity and irradiation time, which allows for a quantitative evaluation of diazirine photolysis and photo-reaction mechanism. Our results reveal a two-step pathway with mainly sequential generation of diazo and carbene intermediates. Diazo intermediate preferentially targets buried polar residues, many of which are inaccessible with known CXL probes for their limited reactivity. Moreover, we demonstrate that tuning light intensity and duration enhances selectivity towards polar residues by biasing diazo-mediated cross-linking reactions over carbene ones. This mechanistic dissection unlocks the full potential of PXL, paving the way for accurate distance mapping against protein structures and ultimately, unveiling protein dynamic behaviors.

Recent advances in mass spectrometry imaging of single cells.

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a sensitive, specific, label-free imaging analysis technique that can simultaneously obtain the spatial distribution, relative content, and structural information of hundreds of biomolecules in cells and tissues, such as lipids, small drug molecules, peptides, proteins, and other compounds. The study of molecular mapping of single cells can reveal major scientific issues such as the activity pattern of living organisms, disease pathogenesis, drug-targeted therapy, and cellular heterogeneity. Applying MSI technology to the molecular mapping of single cells can provide new insights and ideas for the study of single-cell metabolomics. This review aims to provide an informative resource for those in the MSI community who are interested in single-cell imaging. Particularly, we discuss advances in imaging schemes and sample preparation, instrumentation improvements, data processing and analysis, and 3D MSI over the past few years that have allowed MSI to emerge as a powerful technique in the molecular imaging of single cells. Also, we highlight some of the most cutting-edge studies in single-cell MSI, demonstrating the future potential of single-cell MSI. Visualizing molecular distribution at the single-cell or even sub-cellular level can provide us with richer cell information, which strongly contributes to advancing research fields such as biomedicine, life sciences, pharmacodynamic testing, and metabolomics. At the end of the review, we summarize the current development of single-cell MSI technology and look into the future of this technology.

Analysis of Metabolite Distribution in Rat Liver of High-Fat Model by Mass Spectrometry Imaging.

Hyperlipidemia is a medical condition characterized by elevated levels of blood lipids, especially triglycerides (TG). However, it remains unclear whether TG levels remain consistently elevated throughout the entire developmental stage of the high-lipid state. In our animal experiment, we found that TG levels were significantly higher in the early stage of the high-lipid model but significantly decreased at the 14th week of the late stage, reaching levels similar to those of the control group. This suggests that TG levels in the high-lipid model are not always higher than those of the control group. To determine the reason for this observation, we used in situ mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to detect the distribution of metabolites in the liver of rats. The metabolite distribution of the control rats at different stages was significantly different from that of the model rats, and the high-lipid model differed significantly from the control rats. We identified nine functional metabolites that showed differences throughout the period, namely, PA(20:3-OH/i-21:0), PA(20:4-OH/22:6), PG(20:5-OH/i-16:0), PG(22:6-2OH/i-13:0), PG(O-18:0/20:4), PGP(18:3-OH/i-12:0), PGP(PGJ2/i-15:0), SM(d18:0/18:1-2OH), and TG(14:0/14:0/16:0), among which TG was most significantly correlated with hyperlipidemia and high lipid. This study is unique in that it used MSI to reveal the changes in metabolites in situ, showing the distribution of different metabolites or the same metabolite in liver tissue. The findings highlight the importance of considering the animal's age when using TG as a biomarker for hyperlipidemia. Additionally, the MSI images of the liver in the high-lipid model clearly indicated the distribution and differences of more significant metabolites, providing valuable data for further research into new biomarkers and mechanisms of hyperlipidemia. This new pathway of in situ, visualized, and data-rich metabolomics research provides a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of high lipid and its implications for disease prevention and treatment.

Clinical grade lentiviral vector purification and quality control requirements.

Lentiviral vectors have been proven to be a powerful tool in gene therapies that includes the ability to perform long-term gene editing in both dividing and non-dividing cells. In order to meet the rising demand for clinical-grade lentiviral vectors for future clinical trials and requirements by regulatory agencies, new methods and technologies were developed, including the rapid optimization of production and purification processes. However, gaps still exist in achieving ideal yields and recovery rates in large-scale manufacturing process steps. The downstream purification process is a critical step required to obtain a sufficient quantity and high-quality lentiviral vectors products, which is challenged by the low stability of the lentiviral vector particles and large production volumes associated with the manufacturing process. This review summarizes the most recent and promising technologies and enhancements used in the large-scale purification process step of lentiviral vector manufacturing and aims to provide a significant contribution towards the achievement of providing sufficient quantity and quality of lentiviral vectors in scalable processes.

Tracing the migration and transformation of metabolites in xylem during wood growth by mass spectrometry imaging.

Metabolites in the xylem experience several migration and transformation processes during tree growth. Their composition and distributions can reflect the environment that the wood lived through. Herein, a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging method was developed to investigate the migration and transformation of metabolites in the xylem during heartwood formation and after mechanical injury. The thickness of the wood slice, the type of matrix and its manner of deposition were optimized to improve ionization response and spatial resolution. The mass difference correlation (MDC) data processing method was proposed to improve the efficiency of compound identification, in which the compounds were classified by their molecular weight. The compound species was identified by results calculated using MDC and the experimental results from MS/MS. The directly identified metabolites, whose type and number were found to be quite different between sapwood and heartwood, demonstrated the transformation and migration of metabolites from sapwood to heartwood. Additionally, two kinds of resins produced from different positions were identified by MSI simultaneously, even though their heterogeneous distribution was not visible in optical images. The origin and type of the two resins were deduced from the identified compounds and their molecular distribution. This work provides a method to directly reveal metabolite migration and transformation mechanisms in xylem during wood growth.

Lung cancer scRNA-seq and lipidomics reveal aberrant lipid metabolism for early-stage diagnosis.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality, and early detection is key to improving survival. However, there are no reliable blood-based tests currently available for early-stage lung cancer diagnosis. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of different early-stage lung cancers and found that lipid metabolism was broadly dysregulated in different cell types, with glycerophospholipid metabolism as the most altered lipid metabolism-related pathway. Untargeted lipidomics was carried out in an exploratory cohort of 311 participants. Through support vector machine algorithm-based and mass spectrum-based feature selection, we identified nine lipids (lysophosphatidylcholines 16:0, 18:0, and 20:4; phosphatidylcholines 16:0-18:1, 16:0-18:2, 18:0-18:1, 18:0-18:2, and 16:0-22:6; and triglycerides 16:0-18:1-18:1) as the features most important for early-stage cancer detection. Using these nine features, we developed a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (MS)-based targeted assay using multiple reaction monitoring. This target assay achieved 100.00% specificity on an independent validation cohort. In a hospital-based lung cancer screening cohort of 1036 participants examined by low-dose computed tomography and a prospective clinical cohort containing 109 participants, the assay reached more than 90.00% sensitivity and 92.00% specificity. Accordingly, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization MS imaging confirmed that the selected lipids were differentially expressed in early-stage lung cancer tissues in situ. This method, designated as Lung Cancer Artificial Intelligence Detector, may be useful for early detection of lung cancer or large-scale screening of high-risk populations for cancer prevention.

Expansion of the composition library for chemodiversity of hardwood extractives at molecular level by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry.

To enhance the characterization of wood extractives at molecular level, a detailed ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS)-based analytical methodology was developed in this work. The analytical strategies, including selection of compatible solvent for extraction, evaluation of ionization solvent for effective electrospray ionization, and multi-dimensional data analysis, were established to ensure a comprehensive characterization of complex compositions in wood extractives. Extraction capability of seven solvents with varied polarities was examined by a standard reference material of hardwood biomass and evaluated based on thousands of compounds which were much more than those discovered before. With a variety of data-processing approaches, including compound type distribution, double bond equivalent versus carbon number plot, and van Krevelen diagram, the chemodiversity of the extractives was fully explored from different perspectives. This work greatly expanded the compound library of wood extractives and could also provide guidance for the integrated composition analysis of other biomass materials.

Metabolic detection and systems analyses of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma through machine learning, lipidomics, and multi-omics.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers, characterized by rapid progression, metastasis, and difficulty in diagnosis. However, there are no effective liquid-based testing methods available for PDAC detection. Here we introduce a minimally invasive approach that uses machine learning (ML) and lipidomics to detect PDAC. Through greedy algorithm and mass spectrum feature selection, we optimized 17 characteristic metabolites as detection features and developed a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based targeted assay. In this study, 1033 patients with PDAC at various stages were examined. This approach has achieved 86.74% accuracy with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.9351 in the large external validation cohort and 85.00% accuracy with 0.9389 AUC in the prospective clinical cohort. Accordingly, single-cell sequencing, proteomics, and mass spectrometry imaging were applied and revealed notable alterations of selected lipids in PDAC tissues. We propose that the ML-aided lipidomics approach be used for early detection of PDAC.

Reaction Acceleration Promoted by Partial Solvation at the Gas/Solution Interface.

The kinetics of organic reactions of different types in microvolumes (droplets, thin films, and sealed tubes) show effects of gas/solution interfacial area, reaction molecularity and solvent polarity. Partial solvation at the gas/solution interface is a major contributor to the 104 -fold reaction acceleration seen in bimolecular but not unimolecular reactions in microdroplets. Reaction acceleration can be used to manipulate selectivity by solvent choice.

Mass spectrometry imaging for direct visualization of components in plants tissues.

Mass spectrometry is considered the most informative technique for components identification and has been widely adopted in plant sciences. However, the spatial distribution of compounds in the plant, which is vital for the exploration of plant physiological mechanisms, is missed in MS analysis. In recent years, mass spectrometry imaging has brought a great breakthrough in plant analysis because it can determine both the molecular compositions and spatial distributions, which is conducive to understand functions and regulation pathways of specific components in plants. Mass spectrometry imaging analysis of plant tissue is toward high sensitivity, high spatial resolution, and even single-cell analysis. Despite many challenges and technical barriers, such as difficulties of sample pretreatment caused by morphological diversity of plant tissues, obstacles for high spatial resolution imaging, and so on, lots of researches have contributed to remarkable progress, including improvement in tissue preparation, matrix innovation, and ionization mode development. This review focuses on the advances of mass spectrometry imaging analysis of plants in the last 5 years, including commonly used ionization techniques, technical advances, and recent applications of mass spectrometry imaging in plants.

Rapid characterization and pharmacokinetic study of aristolochic acid analogues using ion mobility mass spectrometry.

Aristolochic acid analogues (AAAs), naturally existing in herbal Aristolochia and Asarum genera, were once widely used in traditional pharmacopeias because of their anti-inflammatory properties, but lately they were identified as potential nephrotoxins and mutagens. A method for rapid characterization of AAAs in serum was developed using ion mobility spectrometry coupled with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS). Five AAAs, containing four aristolochic acids and one aristolactam, were separated and identified within milliseconds. AAAs were separated in gas phase based on the difference of their ion mobility (K0), and then identified based on their K0 values, m/z, and product ions from MS/MS. Quantitative analysis of AAAs was performed using an internal standard with a satisfactory sensitivity. Limits of detection (signal-to-noise = 3) and quantification (signal-to-noise = 10) were 1-5 ng/mL and 3-8 ng/mL, respectively. The method was validated and successfully applied to the pharmacokinetics study of AAAs in rats, offering a promising way for fast screening and evaluation of AAAs in biological samples.

Real world effectiveness of PCSK-9 inhibitors combined with statins versus statins-based therapy among patients with very high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in China (RWE-PCSK study).

BACKGROUND: The efficacy and safety of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK-9) inhibitors were confirmed by several clinical trials, but its effectiveness in routine clinical practice in China has not been evaluated. This study aims to describe the real world effectiveness of PCSK-9 inhibitors combined with statins compared with statins-based therapy among patients with very high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). METHODS: This is a multi-center observational study, enrolled patients from 32 hospitals who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from January to June in 2019. There are 453 patients treated with PCSK-9 inhibitors combined with statins in PCSK-9 inhibitor group and 2,610 patients treated with statins-based lipid lowering therapies in statins-based group. The lipid control rate and incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) over six months were compared between two groups. A propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was used to balance two groups on confounding factors. Survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier methods was applied for MACE. RESULTS: In a total of 3,063 patients, 89.91% of patients had received moderate or high-intensity statins-based therapy before PCI, but only 9.47% of patients had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels below 1.4 mmol/L at baseline. In the PSM selected patients, LDL-C level was reduced by 42.57% in PCSK-9 inhibitor group and 30.81% (P < 0.001) in statins-based group after six months. The proportion of LDL-C ≤ 1.0 mmol/L increased from 5.29% to 29.26% in PCSK-9 inhibitor group and 0.23% to 6.11% in statins-based group, and the proportion of LDL-C ≤ 1.4 mmol/L increased from 10.36% to 47.69% in PCSK-9 inhibitor group and 2.99% to 18.43% in statins-based group ( P < 0.001 for both). There was no significant difference between PCSK-9 inhibitor and statins-based treatment in reducing the risk of MACE (hazard ratio = 2.52, 95% CI: 0.49-12.97, P = 0.250). CONCLUSIONS: In the real world, PCSK-9 inhibitors combined with statins could significantly reduce LDL-C levels among patients with very high risk of ASCVD in China. The long-term clinical benefits for patients received PCSK-9 inhibitor to reduce the risk of MACE is still unclear and requires further study.

In Situ Identification and Spatial Mapping of Microplastic Standards in Paramecia by Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging.

Microplastics (MPs) are universally present in the ecosystem and pose great threats to the environment and living organisms. Research studies have shown that small MPs (<50 µm in diameter) are especially toxic and account for more than half of all MPs collected in the Atlantic Ocean. Nevertheless, current methods for the detection and analysis of MPs are incapable of achieving rapid and in situ analysis of small MPs in the biota to ultimately enable the study of their biological effects. In this work, we report a method that allows rapid in situ identification and spatial mapping of small MPs directly from paramecia with high accuracy by acquiring chemical composition information using secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) imaging. Specifically, six types of common MPs (polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyglycidyl methacrylate, and polyamide 6) with a diameter of 1-50 µm were simultaneously imaged with high chemical specificity at a spatial resolution of 700 nm. In situ spatial mapping of a group of MPs ingested by paramecia was performed using SIMS fragments specific to the plastic composition with no sample pretreatment, revealing the aggregation of MPs in paramecia after ingestion. Compared with existing methods, one additional advantage of the developed method is that the MPs and the organism can be analyzed in the same experimental workflow to record their fingerprint spectra, acquiring biochemical information to evaluate MP fate, toxicity, and the MP-biota interaction.

Spatial Distribution of Endogenous Molecules in Coffee Beans by Atmospheric Pressure Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging.

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a promising chemical imaging method. Among various endogenous molecules, mapping the concentration and the spatial distribution of specific compounds in the coffee bean tissue is of tremendous significance in its function research, as these compounds are critical to grading coffee beans at the molecular level, determining the geographical origin, and optimizing storage conditions of coffee beans. In this paper, we established an atmospheric pressure (AP) matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MSI method for the microscopic distribution analysis of endogenous molecules, for example, sucrose, caffeine, and caffeoylquinic acid, in the coffee bean endosperm. Experiments were done on the differences between coffee beans from eight countries. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using IMAGEREVEAL software. The results showed that the chemical composition and relative content of coffee beans from different origins are different. Our work provides a detection method that may be used for coffee bean quality identification, efficient use, product traceability, and product counterfeiting.

Recent advances of ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging in clinical research.

The structural information and spatial distribution of molecules in biological tissues are closely related to the potential molecular mechanisms of disease origin, transfer, and classification. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging is an effective tool that provides molecular images while describing in situ information of biomolecules in complex samples, in which ionization occurs at atmospheric pressure with the samples being analyzed in the native state. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging can directly analyze tissue samples at a fairly high resolution to obtain molecules in situ information on the tissue surface to identify pathological features associated with a disease, resulting in the wide applications in pharmacy, food science, botanical research, and especially clinical research. Herein, novel ambient ionization techniques, such as techniques based on spray and solid-liquid extraction, techniques based on plasma desorption, techniques based on laser desorption ablation, and techniques based on acoustic desorption were introduced, and the data processing of ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging was briefly reviewed. Besides, we also highlight recent applications of this imaging technology in clinical researches and discuss the challenges in this imaging technology and the perspectives on the future of the clinical research.

A novel online two-dimensional supercritical fluid chromatography/reversed phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for lipid profiling.

A novel online two-dimensional supercritical fluid chromatography/reversed-phase liquid chromatography-triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (2D SFC/RPLC-QQQ MS) method based on a vacuum solvent evaporation interface was developed for lipid profiling in human plasma, in which lipid classes were separated by the first-dimension SFC and different lipid molecular species were further separated by the second-dimension RPLC. All separation condition parameters were carefully optimized, and their influence on the chromatographic behavior of lipids is discussed. Finally, the recoveries of 11 lipid standards were all more than 88% for the interface. Besides, the limit of detection for these lipid standards was on the order of nanograms per milliliter, and the relative standard deviations of the peak area and retention time ranged from 1.54% to 19.85% and from 0.00% to 0.10%, respectively. The final 2D SFC/RPLC-QQQ MS method allowed the identification of 370 endogenous lipid species from ten lipid classes, including diacylglycerol, triacylglycerol, ceramide, glucosylceramide, galactosylceramide, lactosylceramide, sphingomyelin, acylcarnitine, phosphatidylcholine, and lysophosphatidylethanolamine, in human plasma within 38 min, which was used for screening potential lipid biomarkers in breast cancer. The 2D SFC/RPLC-QQQ MS method is a potentially useful tool for in-depth studies focused on complex lipid metabolism and biomarker discovery. Graphical Abstract.

High-yield gram-scale organic synthesis using accelerated microdroplet/thin film reactions with solvent recycling.

A closed system has been designed to perform microdroplet/thin film reactions with solvent recycling capabilities for gram-scale chemical synthesis. Claisen-Schmidt, Schiff base, Katritzky and Suzuki coupling reactions show acceleration factors relative to bulk of 15 to 7700 times in this droplet spray system. These values are much larger than those reported previously for the same reactions in microdroplet/thin film reaction systems. The solvent recycling mode of the new system significantly improves the reaction yield, especially for reactions with smaller reaction acceleration factors. The microdroplet/thin film reaction yield improved on recycling from 33% to 86% and from 32% to 72% for the Katritzky and Suzuki coupling reactions, respectively. The Claisen-Schmidt reaction was chosen to test the capability of this system in gram scale syntheses and rates of 3.18 g per h and an isolated yield of 87% were achieved.

Atheroprotective effects of methotrexate via the inhibition of YAP/TAZ under disturbed flow.

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis preferentially develops in regions of disturbed flow (DF). Emerging evidence indicates that yes-associated protein (YAP) and transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ), which are both effectors of the Hippo pathway, sense different blood flow patterns and regulate atherosclerotic lesions. We previously found that methotrexate (MTX) reduces in-stent neoatherosclerosis, decreases the plaque burden, and has an effect on local fluid shear stress. Here, we investigated the atheroprotective effect of MTX under DF and the mechanisms underlying these properties. METHODS: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were subjected to biomechanical stretch using a parallel-plate flow system and treated with or without MTX at therapeutically relevant concentrations. Additionally, an extravascular device was used to induce DF in the left common carotid artery of C57BL/6 mice, followed by treatment with MTX or 0.9% saline. The artery was then assessed histopathologically after 4 weeks on a Western diet. RESULTS: We observed that MTX significantly inhibited DF-induced endothelial YAP/TAZ activation. Furthermore, it markedly decreased pro-inflammatory factor secretion and monocyte adhesion in HUVECs but had no effect on apoptosis. Mechanistically, AMPKa1 depletion attenuated these effects of MTX. Accordingly, MTX decreased DF-induced plaque formation, which was accompanied by YAP/TAZ downregulation in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, we conclude that MTX exerts protective effects via the AMP-dependent kinase (AMPK)-YAP/TAZ pathway. These results provide a basis for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis via the inhibition of YAP/TAZ.

Adeno-associated Virus 9-mediated Small RNA Interference of TLR4 Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury by Inhibition of the NF-κB and MAPK Signaling Pathways in Rats.

BACKGROUND: Despite intensive investigation, effective therapeutic procedures for myocardial I/R injury are still in demand. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9)-mediated small interfering RNA targeting TLR4 in the treatment of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury and its influence on the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. METHODS: Rats were divided into 3 groups, namely, the sham, AAV9-siRNA control, and AAV9-TLR4 siRNA groups. siRNA solution or normal saline was injected through the tail vain. The rat myocardial I/R injury model was then established. HE staining and TUNEL staining were applied to compare the pathological changes in cardiomyocytes in the three groups. Immunohistochemical staining and western blotting were utilized to detect TLR4 expression under siRNA interference. Serum inflammatory factor (IL-1ß, TNF-α) expression was determined by an ELISA commercial kit. Key proteins in the MAPK (p38, JNK 1/2) and NF-κB (p65) signaling pathways were determined to identify the TLR4 siRNA functional mechanism. RESULTS: Fluorescence microscopic images of the myocardium indicated that AAV9- mediated siRNA was efficiently transfected into the myocardium, and the infarcted size after I/R injury was decreased by AAV9-TLR4 siRNA when compared with negative control rats (P<0.05). TLR4 protein expression was significantly decreased by siRNA interference (P<0.001). Apoptosis-related factor BCL-2 expression was increased in the TLR4 gene silencing group, whereas Bax expression was decreased. The Bax/BCL-2 ratio was also decreased, demonstrating a protective effect for cardiomyocytes. Inflammatory factors were lower in the TLR4 gene silencing group than in the siRNA control group (P<0.001). The MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways were activated in myocardial I/R injury; however, the primary proteins in these two signaling pathways were downregulated upon interference of TLR4 siRNA, with significant differences (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: AAV9-TLR4 siRNA has a positive effect on myocardial I/R injury by inhibiting the MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways and can be used as a potential therapeutic method for myocardial I/R injury.

Bifunctional cleavable probes for in situ multiplexed glycan detection and imaging using mass spectrometry.

In situ analysis of glycans is of great significance since they mediate a range of biological activities. Aberrant changes of glycosylation are closely related to cancer onset and progression. In this work, bifunctional laser cleavable mass probes (LCMPs) were developed for in situ glycan detection from both cells and tissues using laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). Specific recognition of glycans was achieved by lectins, and inherent signal amplification was achieved by the conversion of the detection of glycans to that of mass tags which overcame the low ionization efficiency and complicated mass spectra of glycans. Multiplexed glycan profiling was easy to implement due to the simple and generic synthetic route to LCMPs and serial alternative mass tags, which offers high sensitivity, low interference and in situ detection of glycans. Moreover, as an excellent inherent matrix, LCMPs facilitated direct glycan detection from the cell surface and tissue imaging using LDI-MS. Intrinsic and fine glycan distribution in human cancer and paracancerous tissues was strictly demonstrated by MS imaging to explore the correlation between glycosylation and various cancers. This approach presented a versatile LDI-MS based platform for fast and in situ multiplexed glycan engineering, thus providing a new perspective in glycobiology and clinical diagnosis.