Quantitative profiling of O-glycans by electrospray ionization- and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry after in-gel derivatization with isotope-coded 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone.

The potential and benefits of isotope-coded labeling in the context of MS-based glycan profiling are evaluated focusing on the analysis of O-glycans. For this purpose, a derivatization strategy using d0/d5-1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP) is employed, allowing O-glycan release and derivatization to be achieved in one single step. The paper demonstrates that this release and derivatization reaction can be carried out also in-gel with only marginal loss in sensitivity compared to in-solution derivatization. Such an effective in-gel reaction allows one to extend this release/labeling method also to glycoprotein/glycoform samples pre-separated by gel-electrophoresis without the need of extracting the proteins/digested peptides from the gel. With highly O-glycosylated proteins (e.g. mucins) LODs in the range of 0.4 µg glycoprotein (100 fmol) loaded onto the electrophoresis gel can be attained, with minor glycosylated proteins (like IgAs, FVII, FIX) the LODs were in the range of 80-100 µg (250 pmol-1.5 nmol) glycoprotein loaded onto the gel. As second aspect, the potential of isotope coded labeling as internal standardization strategy for the reliable determination of quantitative glycan profiles via MALDI-MS is investigated. Towards this goal, a number of established and emerging MALDI matrices were tested for PMP-glycan quantitation, and their performance is compared with that of ESI-based measurements. The crystalline matrix 2,6-dihydroxyacetophenone (DHAP) and the ionic liquid matrix N,N-diisopropyl-ethyl-ammonium 2,4,6-trihydroxyacetophenone (DIEA-THAP) showed potential for MALDI-based quantitation of PMP-labeled O-glycans. We also provide a comprehensive overview on the performance of MS-based glycan quantitation approaches by comparing sensitivity, LOD, accuracy and repeatability data obtained with RP-HPLC-ESI-MS, stand-alone nano-ESI-MS with a spray-nozzle chip, and MALDI-MS. Finally, the suitability of the isotope-coded PMP labeling strategy for O-glycan profiling of biological important proteins is demonstrated by comparative analysis of IgA immunoglobulins and two coagulation factors.

Increased α1-3 fucosylation of α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PDAC) lacks reliable diagnostic biomarkers and the search for new biomarkers represents an important challenge. Previous results looking at a small cohort of patients showed an increase in α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) fucosylation in advanced PDAC using N-glycan sequencing. Here, we have analysed AGP glycoforms in a larger cohort using several analytical techniques including mass spectrometry (MS), capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and enzyme-linked lectin assays (ELLAs) for determining AGP glycoforms which could be PDAC associated. AGP from 31 serum samples, including healthy controls (HC), chronic pancreatitis (ChrP) and PDAC patients, was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. Stable isotope labelling of AGP released N-glycans and their analysis by zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction capillary liquid chromatography electrospray MS (µZIC-HILIC-ESI-MS) showed an increase in AGP fucosylated glycoforms in PDAC compared to ChrP and HC. By CZE-UV analysis, relative concentrations of some of the AGP isoforms were found significantly different compared to those in PDAC and HC. Finally, ELLAs using Aleuria aurantia lectin displayed a significant increase in AGP fucosylation, before and after AGP neuraminidase treatment, in advanced PDAC compared to ChrP and HC, respectively. Altogether, these results indicate that α1-3 fucosylated glycoforms of AGP are increased in PDAC and could be potentially regarded as a PDAC biomarker.

Tandem mass spectrometry of isomeric aniline-labeled N-glycans separated on porous graphitic carbon: Revealing the attachment position of terminal sialic acids and structures of neutral glycans.

RATIONALE: Quantitative monitoring of changes in the N-glycome upon disease has gained significance in the context of biomarker discovery. Separation and quantification of isobaric glycan isomers can be attained by using high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS). Collision-induced dissociation (CID)-based fragmentation of separated isobaric glycans is evaluated in respect to its potential of providing fragment ions specific for the linkage positions of terminal sialic acids and the presence of intersecting GlcNAc moieties, respectively. METHODS: N-Glycans were labeled via reductive amination using (12)C6-aniline and (13)C6-aniline as isotope-coded labeling reagents. The differently labeled glycans were merged and separated into various species using a porous graphitic carbon (PGC) stationary phase. Identification of structural features of separated isobaric isomers was performed by CID-based tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) carried out in a quadrupole time-of-flight (QqTOF) or a quadrupole ion-trap (IT) mass spectrometer. RESULTS: Working in the negative ion mode, new diagnostic CID fragment ions could be found that are indicative for the α2,6-type linkage of sialic acids. Other diagnostic ions, identified before as being indicative for the substitution of the 6-antenna, could be confirmed as being of relevance also in the case of aniline labeling. In the positive ion mode, CID fragment ions indicative for the structure of short neutral N-glycans were identified. CONCLUSIONS: One new diagnostic ion specific for the linkage position of the terminal sialic acids and one for the presence of bisecting GlcNAc in N-glycans were identified. The aniline label introduced for improved relative quantitation in MS(1) was found not to significantly alter the CID fragmentation patterns that were reported previously by other authors for unlabeled/reduced glycans or for glycans with more polar labels.

Quantitative fingerprinting of O-linked glycans released from proteins using isotopic coded labeling with deuterated 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone.

Investigation of oligosaccharides attached to proteins as post-translational modification remains an important research field in the area of glycoproteomics as well as in biotechnology. The development of new tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis of glycans has gained high importance in recent years. This is particularly true with O-glycans for which quantitative data are still underrepresented in literature. This fact is probably due to the absence of an enzyme for general release of O-linked saccharides from glycoproteins and due to their low ionization yield in mass spectrometry (MS). In this paper, a method is established aimed at improved qualitative and quantitative analysis of mucin-type O-glycans. A chemical reaction combining release and derivatization of O-glycans in one step is combined here with mass spectrometric quantification. For the purpose of improved quantitative analysis, stable-isotope coded labeling by d0/d5 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolidone (PMP) was performed. The "heavy"-version of this label, penta-deutero (d5)-PMP, was synthesized for this purpose. Beneath improving the reproducibility of quantitation, PMP derivatization contributed to an enhancement of ionization yields in MS. By introducing an internal standard (e.g. GlcNAc3) the reproducibility for quantification can be improved. For higher abundant O-glycans a mean coefficient of variation (CV) less than 6% could be attained, for very low abundant CV values between 15 and 20%. For the determination of O-glycan profiles in mixtures, a HPLC separation was combined with a high resolution Qq-oaTOF instrument. RP-type stationary phases were successful in separating glycan species including some of isomeric ones. This separation step was particularly useful for removing of salts avoiding so the presence of various sodium clusters in the MS spectrum.

Quantitative analysis of N-glycans from human alfa-acid-glycoprotein using stable isotope labeling and zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction capillary liquid chromatography electrospray mass spectrometry as tool for pancreatic disease diagnosis.

In this work we demonstrate the potential of glycan reductive isotope labeling (GRIL) using [(12)C]- and [(13)C]-coded aniline and zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction capillary liquid chromatography electrospray mass spectrometry (µZIC-HILIC-ESI-MS) for relative quantitation of glycosylation variants in selected glycoproteins present in samples from cancer patients. Human α1-acid-glycoprotein (hAGP) is an acute phase serum glycoprotein whose glycosylation has been described to be altered in cancer and chronic inflammation. However, it is not clear yet whether some particular glycans in hAGP can be used as biomarker for differentiating between these two pathologies. In this work, hAGP was isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) from serum samples of healthy individuals and from those suffering chronic pancreatitis and different stages of pancreatic cancer, respectively. After de-N-glycosylation, relative quantitation of the hAGP glycans was carried out using stable isotope labeling and µZIC-HILIC-ESI-MS analysis. First, protein denaturing conditions prior to PNGase F digestion were optimized to achieve quantitative digestion yields, and the reproducibility of the established methodology was evaluated with standard hAGP. Then, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of the clinical samples (control vs. pathological). Pancreatic cancer samples clearly showed an increase in the abundance of fucosylated glycans as the stage of the disease increases and this was unlike to samples from chronic pancreatitis. The results gained here indicate the mentioned glycan in hAGP as a candidate structure worth to be corroborated by an extended study including more clinical cases; especially those with chronic pancreatitis and initial stages of pancreatic cancer. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the presented methodology combining an enrichment of a target protein by IAC with isotope coded relative quantitation of N-glycans can be successfully used for targeted glycomics studies. The methodology is assumed being suitable as well for other such studies aimed at finding novel cancer associated glycoprotein biomarkers.

Quantitative isomer-specific N-glycan fingerprinting using isotope coded labeling and high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry with graphitic carbon stationary phase.

Glycan reductive isotope labeling (GRIL) using (12)C6-/(13)C6-aniline as labeling reagent is reported with the aim of quantitative N-glycan fingerprinting. Porous graphitized carbon (PGC) as stationary phase in capillary scale HPLC coupled to electrospray mass spectrometry with time of flight analyzer was applied for the determination of labeled N-glycans released from glycoproteins. The main benefit of using stable isotope-coding in the context of comparative glycomics lies in the improved accuracy and precision of the quantitative analysis in combined samples and in the potential of correcting for structure-dependent incomplete enzymatic release of oligosaccharides when comparing identical target proteins. The method was validated with respect to mobile phase parameters, reproducibility, accuracy, linearity and limit of detection/quantification (LOD/LOQ) using test glycoproteins. It is shown that the developed method is capable of determining relative amounts of N-glycans (including isomers) comparing two samples in one single HPLC-MS run. The analytical potential and usefulness of GRIL in combination with PGC-ESI-TOF-MS is demonstrated comparing glycosylation in human monoclonal antibodies produced in Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) and hybridoma cell lines.

High level protein-purification allows the unambiguous polypeptide determination of latent isoform PPO4 of mushroom tyrosinase.

Tyrosinases catalyze two initial reaction steps in the formation of melanin. Purification of tyrosinases had always been a process accompanied with various problems caused by enzymatic browning processes. Here, an approach is presented for the purification of the latent enzyme from mushrooms which averts and removes interfering compounds (e.g. polyphenols) in advance to the extraction process. The described method is supposed being well suitable as a general protein purification protocol from natural sources like fungi and plants. The purified enzyme was investigated in detail by means of mass spectrometry: its intact protein mass was determined as 64,247.3 Da and it was identified as number four of in total six isoforms (PPO1-6) by means of sequence analysis. Some PTMs, strain specific sequence disparities and several cleavage sites including the one causing enzyme-activation (Ser³8³) were determined, thus, providing insights on the maturation process of this latent tyrosinase zymogen. Based on these sequence data it can be concluded that the polypeptide backbone of the latent form of the tyrosinase PPO4 ranges from Ser² to Thr565, missing when compared to the gene-derived sequence a small part (46 amino acids) of the C-terminal tail. The high content on hydrophobic amino acids within this missing tail gives rise to speculations whether this part might have a function as a membrane anchor.

Relative quantitation of glycosylation variants by stable isotope labeling of enzymatically released N-glycans using [12C]/[13C] aniline and ZIC-HILIC-ESI-TOF-MS.

Glycan reductive isotope labeling (GRIL) using [(12)C]- and [(13)C]-coded aniline was used for relative quantitation of N-glycans. In a first step, the labeling method by reductive amination was optimized for this reagent. It could be demonstrated that selecting aniline as limiting reactant and using the reductant in excess is critical for achieving high derivatization yields (over 95 %) and good reproducibility (relative standard deviations ∼1-5 % for major and ∼5-10 % for minor N-glycans). In a second step, zwitterionic-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography in capillary columns coupled to electrospray mass spectrometry with time-of-flight analyzer (µZIC-HILIC-ESI-TOF-MS) was applied for the analysis of labeled N-glycans released from intact glycoproteins. Ovalbumin, bovine α1-acid-glycoprotein and bovine fetuin were used as test glycoproteins to establish and evaluate the methodology. Excellent separation of isomeric N-glycans and reproducible quantitation via the extracted ion chromatograms indicate a great potential of the proposed methodology for glycoproteomic analysis and for reliable relative quantitation of glycosylation variants in biological samples.

Separation and identification of glycoforms by capillary electrophoresis with electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a resourceful and versatile separation method for the analysis of complex carbohydrate mixtures. In combination with electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS), CE enables fast, sensitive, and efficient separations for the accurate identification of a large variety of glycoform mixture types. In this chapter several reliable off- and on-line CE-based methods for the analysis of glycoforms with ESI MS/MS are presented. The first part of this chapter is dedicated to the application of off-line CE/ESI MS to complex mixtures of O-glycopeptides and mixtures of proteoglycan-derived O-glycans, i.e., glycosaminoglycans such as depolymerized hybrid chains of chondroitin sulfate (CS) and dermatan sulfate (DS). Procedures for off-line fractionation of these heterogeneous mixtures followed by ESI MS screening and sequencing of single glycoforms by collision-induced dissociation (CID) at low energies are also described. Ample sections are further devoted to on-line CE/ESI MS technique and its application to separation and identification of O-glycopeptides and CS/DS oligosaccharides. The concept and construction principles of two different sheathless CE/ESI MS interfaces together with the protocols to be applied for successful on-line analysis of O-glycopeptides and CS/DS oligosaccharides are presented in details in the last part of the chapter.

Brain chondroitin/dermatan sulfate, from cerebral tissue to fine structure: extraction, preparation, and fully automated chip-electrospray mass spectrometric analysis.

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) and dermatan sulfate (DS) glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are covalently linked to proteins, building up a wide range of proteoglycans, with a prevalent expression in the extracellular matrix (ECM). In mammalian tissues, these GAG species are often found as hybrid CS/DS chains. Their structural diversity during chain elongation is produced by variability of sulfation in the repeating disaccharide units. In central nervous system, a large proportion of the ECM is composed of proteoglycans; therefore, CS/DS play a significant role in the functional diversity of neurons, brain development, and some brain diseases. A requirement for collecting consistent data on brain proteoglycan glycosylation is the development of adequate protocols for CS/DS extraction and detailed compositional and structure analysis. This chapter will present a strategy, which combines biochemical tools for brain CS/DS extraction, purification, and fractionation, with a modern analytical platform based on chip-nanoelectrospray multistage mass spectrometry (MS) able to provide information on the essential structural elements such as epimerization, chain length, sulfate content, and sulfation sites.

Alanyl-glutamine dipeptide restores the cytoprotective stress proteome of mesothelial cells exposed to peritoneal dialysis fluids.

BACKGROUND: Exposure of mesothelial cells to peritoneal dialysis fluids (PDF) results in cytoprotective cellular stress responses (CSR) that counteract PDF-induced damage. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the CSR may be inadequate in relevant models of peritoneal dialysis (PD) due to insufficient levels of glutamine, resulting in increased vulnerability against PDF cytotoxicity. We particularly investigated the role of alanyl-glutamine (Ala-Gln) dipeptide on the cytoprotective PDF stress proteome. METHODS: Adequacy of CSR was investigated in two human in vitro models (immortalized cell line MeT-5A and mesothelial cells derived from peritoneal effluent of uraemic patients) following exposure to heat-sterilized glucose-based PDF (PD4-Dianeal, Baxter) diluted with medium and, in a comparative proteomics approach, at different levels of glutamine ranging from depletion (0 mM) via physiological (0.7 mM) to pharmacological levels (8 mM administered as Ala-Gln). RESULTS: Despite severe cellular injury, expression of cytoprotective proteins was dampened upon PDF exposure at physiological glutamine levels, indicating an inadequate CSR. Depletion of glutamine aggravated cell injury and further reduced the CSR, whereas addition of Ala-Gln at pharmacological level restored an adequate CSR, decreasing cellular damage in both PDF exposure systems. Ala-Gln specifically stimulated chaperoning activity, and cytoprotective processes were markedly enhanced in the PDF stress proteome. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this study demonstrates an inadequate CSR of mesothelial cells following PDF exposure associated with low and physiological levels of glutamine, indicating a new and potentially relevant pathomechanism. Supplementation of PDF with pharmacological doses of Ala-Gln restored the cytoprotective stress proteome, resulting in improved resistance of mesothelial cells to exposure to PDF. Future work will study the clinical relevance of CSR-mediated cytoprotection.

High-performance separation techniques hyphenated to mass spectrometry for ganglioside analysis.

Gangliosides, sialic-acid-containing glycosphingolipids are involved in numerous biological processes and play essential roles in severe pathologies, with predilection in those of the central nervous system. Formerly, ganglioside composition and quantity were assessed exclusively by thin-layer chromatographic (TLC), immunochemical, and immunohistochemical methods, which have limited effectiveness being unable to detect minor components in mixtures of high heterogeneity. Increased awareness of the biological importance of gangliosides stimulated the development of analytical methods that are better amenable to complex ganglioside mixtures. More recently, MS in online conjunction with high-performance separation techniques brought a significant progress to the field. This review highlights the state-of-the-art development and application of separation methods online coupled to MS for ganglioside analysis. Most original and successful protocols based on GC-MS, LC-MS, and CE-MS are presented here together with the special instrumental and sample preparation requirements to be met for effective ganglioside separation, detection, and structural identification. Finally, the advantages and downsides of each methodology as well as the perspectives for simplification, standardization, and upgrading are assessed.

Interleukin-1 receptor-mediated inflammation impairs the heat shock response of human mesothelial cells.

Bioincompatibility of peritoneal dialysis fluids (PDF) limits their use in renal replacement therapy. PDF exposure harms mesothelial cells but induces heat shock proteins (HSP), which are essential for repair and cytoprotection. We searched for cellular pathways that impair the heat shock response in mesothelial cells after PDF-exposure. In a dose-response experiment, increasing PDF-exposure times resulted in rapidly increasing mesothelial cell damage but decreasing HSP expression, confirming impaired heat shock response. Using proteomics and bioinformatics, simultaneously activated apoptosis-related and inflammation-related pathways were identified as candidate mechanisms. Testing the role of sterile inflammation, addition of necrotic cell material to mesothelial cells increased, whereas addition of the interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) antagonist anakinra to PDF decreased release of inflammatory cytokines. Addition of anakinra during PDF exposure resulted in cytoprotection and increased chaperone expression. Thus, activation of the IL-1R plays a pivotal role in impairment of the heat shock response of mesothelial cells to PDF. Danger signals from injured cells lead to an elevated level of cytokine release associated with sterile inflammation, which reduces expression of HSP and other cytoprotective chaperones and exacerbates PDF damage. Blocking the IL-1R pathway might be useful in limiting damage during peritoneal dialysis.

A proteomic view on the role of glucose in peritoneal dialysis.

Peritoneal dialysis is a frequently used mode of renal replacement therapy although peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF) acts as stressor for mesothelial cells. In this study, stress response to PDF is investigated by a proteomics approach using Met-5A cell cultures closely resembling mesothelial cells. In a previous work, we identified about 100 proteins as significantly enhanced or diminished in abundance after full-PDF stress (90 mM glucose, pH 5.8, and presence of lactate and glucose degradation products (GDPs)) using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and MALDI-MS and MS/MS techniques. In this paper, a functional analysis is presented assigning these proteins to glucose associated pathways according to the KEGG database. To establish the stressor role of high glucose concentration, the up/down regulation of proteins populating these pathways were investigated in a fluorescence-difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) experiment exposing Met-5A cells to nonphysiologically high glucose conditions only. In this glucose-single stress experiment, the fold-change ratios of the investigated glucose-pathway associated proteins were found much lower than observed in the previous full-PDF stress experiments. This finding supports the hypothesis that cellular response to full-PDF stress is not primarily induced by the high glucose concentration, even when focusing on proteins belonging to the glucose associated pathways.

Use of a novel ionic liquid matrix for MALDI-MS analysis of glycopeptides and glycans out of total tryptic digests.

In this study, we investigated a novel ionic liquid matrix (ILM), namely, the 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium salt of 2,4,6-trihydroxyacetophenone (THAP). This matrix[1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium 2,4,6-trihydroxyacetophenone (GTHAP)] turned out to be well suited for the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric analysis of glycopeptides and glycans, and overcame the well-known ionization suppression of carbohydrate structures in the presence of peptides. The matrix was evaluated by two different series of experiments, in each case in comparison with the crystalline THAP matrix. In the first set of experiments, mass spectra were taken from unseparated tryptic digests of three glycoproteins taken as model compounds. Even glycopeptides containing short peptide backbones and large carbohydrate moieties gave high signal intensities when using the ILM though they did not appear in the THAP spectra. In the second set of experiments, the total tryptic digests were treated with endoglycosidase PNGase F to cleave off the N-linked glycans. When using the GTHAP matrix, it was possible to detect the glycans with high intensities in the presence of the tryptic peptides, whereas glycan ionization was completely suppressed when measured with the solid matrix THAP. The extent of metastable decay of glycopeptides was reduced when using the ILM. Altogether, GTHAP proved as a useful ILM particularly being superior to solid matrices in the context of glycosylation analysis.

Confirmation of immuno-reactivity of the recombinant major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1a by affinity-CIEF.

Affinity-CIEF has been applied to characterize a recombinant product of the major birch pollen allergen Betula verrucosa isoform 1a (Bet v 1a) immuno-chemically. For this purpose mAbs of the IgG-type have been produced in-lab from two murine hybridoma lines, specified as clones 2 and 5.1. Both IgG clones were characterized by SDS-PAGE, MALDI-TOF-MS and CIEF. The purified IgG solutions had to be dialysed against 10 mmol/L phosphate (pH 7.4) to prevent IgG precipitation and to ensure appropriate CIEF separation. Both tested monoclonal IgGs (mIgGs) comprised four constituents covering pI ranges of 6.98-7.09 and 6.78-7.03 for clones 2 and 5.1 with major peaks at pI 7.09 and 7.03, respectively. When increasing amounts of Bet v 1a (pI 4.95) were incubated with 2.0 mumol/L mIgG, novel peaks were progressively induced in a pI range slightly more acidic than the focusing region of mIgGs. These peaks grew on the expense of original mIgG peaks. All pI values were calculated using two pI marker compounds with a repeatability of better than 0.03 units. New peaks represent complexes between Bet v 1a and mIgG either of 1:1 or of 2:1 binding stoichiometry. At a molar ratio of 2:1, saturation of both IgG paratopes with allergen (Ag) molecules was achieved as indicated by unbound Bet v 1a. The current CIEF approach addresses the proof of single epitope integrity in the course of immuno-chemical characterization of Bet v 1a. Contrary to traditional immunoassays, affinity CIEF allows for a distinction and relative quantification of mAbs, Ag-antibody complexes and Ag variants coexisting in one sample.