Real-time glioblastoma tumor microenvironment assessment by SpiderMass for improved patient management.

Glioblastoma is a highly heterogeneous and infiltrative form of brain cancer associated with a poor outcome and limited therapeutic effectiveness. The extent of the surgery is related to survival. Reaching an accurate diagnosis and prognosis assessment by the time of the initial surgery is therefore paramount in the management of glioblastoma. To this end, we are studying the performance of SpiderMass, an ambient ionization mass spectrometry technology that can be used in vivo without invasiveness, coupled to our recently established artificial intelligence pipeline. We demonstrate that we can both stratify isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild-type glioblastoma patients into molecular sub-groups and achieve an accurate diagnosis with over 90% accuracy after cross-validation. Interestingly, the developed method offers the same accuracy for prognosis. In addition, we are testing the potential of an immunoscoring strategy based on SpiderMass fingerprints, showing the association between prognosis and immune cell infiltration, to predict patient outcome.

Evaluation of antibody-based single cell type imaging techniques coupled to multiplexed imaging of N-glycans and collagen peptides by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging.

The integration of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) with single cell spatial omics methods allows for a comprehensive investigation of single cell spatial information and matrisomal N-glycan and extracellular matrix protein imaging. Here, the performance of the antibody-directed single cell workflows coupled with MALDI-MSI are evaluated. Miralys™ photocleavable mass-tagged antibody probes (MALDI-IHC, AmberGen, Inc.), GeoMx DSP® (NanoString, Inc.), and Imaging Mass Cytometry (IMC, Standard BioTools Inc.) were used in series with MALDI-MSI of N-glycans and extracellular matrix peptides on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Single cell omics protocols were performed before and after MALDI-MSI. The data suggests that for each modality combination, there is an optimal order for performing both techniques on the same tissue section. An overall conclusion is that MALDI-MSI studies may be completed on the same tissue section as used for antibody-directed single cell modalities. This work increases access to combined cellular and extracellular information within the tissue microenvironment to enhance research on the pathological origins of disease.

MALDI-IHC-Guided In-Depth Spatial Proteomics: Targeted and Untargeted MSI Combined.

Recently, a novel technology was published, utilizing the strengths of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), achieving highly multiplexed, targeted imaging of biomolecules in tissue. This new technique, called MALDI-IHC, opened up workflows to target molecules of interest using MALDI-MSI that are usually targeted by standard IHC. In this paper, the utility of targeted MALDI-IHC and its complementarity with untargeted on-tissue bottom-up spatial proteomics is explored using breast cancer tissue. Furthermore, the MALDI-2 effect was investigated and demonstrated to improve MALDI-IHC. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) human breast cancer tissue sections were stained for multiplex MALDI-IHC with six photocleavable mass-tagged (PC-MT) antibodies constituting a breast cancer antibody panel (CD20, actin-αSM, HER2, CD68, vimentin, and panCK). K-means spatial clusters were created based on the MALDI-IHC images and cut out using laser-capture microdissection (LMD) for further untargeted LC-MS-based bottom-up proteomics analyses. Numerous peptides could be tentatively assigned to multiple proteins, of which three proteins were also part of the antibody panel (vimentin, keratins, and actin). Post-ionization with MALDI-2 showed an increased intensity of the PC-MTs and suggests options for the development of new mass-tags. Although the on-tissue digestion covered a wider range of proteins, the MALDI-IHC allowed for easy and straightforward identification of proteins that were not detected in untargeted approaches. The combination of the multiplexed MALDI-IHC with image-guided proteomics showed great potential to further investigate diseases by providing complementary information from the same tissue section and without the need for customized instrumentation.

Highly Multiplexed Immunohistochemical MALDI-MS Imaging of Biomarkers in Tissues.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) combined with fluorescence microscopy provides an important and widely used tool for researchers and pathologists to image multiple biomarkers in tissue specimens. However, multiplex IHC using standard fluorescence microscopy is generally limited to 3-5 different biomarkers, with hyperspectral or multispectral methods limited to 8. We report the development of a new technology based on novel photocleavable mass-tags (PC-MTs) for facile antibody labeling, which enables highly multiplexed IHC based on MALDI mass spectrometric imaging (MALDI-IHC). This approach significantly exceeds the multiplexity of both fluorescence- and previous cleavable mass-tag-based methods. Up to 12-plex MALDI-IHC was demonstrated on mouse brain, human tonsil, and breast cancer tissues specimens, reflecting the known molecular composition, anatomy, and pathology of the targeted biomarkers. Novel dual-labeled fluorescent PC-MT antibodies and label-free small-molecule mass spectrometric imaging greatly extend the capability of this new approach. MALDI-IHC shows promise for use in the fields of tissue pathology, tissue diagnostics, therapeutics, and precision medicine.

Inhibition of the Fe(III)-catalyzed dopamine oxidation by ATP and its relevance to oxidative stress in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic cells, which implicates a role of dopamine (DA) in the etiology of PD. A possible DA degradation pathway is the Fe(III)-catalyzed oxidation of DA by oxygen, which produces neuronal toxins as side products. We investigated how ATP, an abundant and ubiquitous molecule in cellular milieu, affects the catalytic oxidation reaction of dopamine. For the first time, a unique, highly stable DA-Fe(III)-ATP ternary complex was formed and characterized in vitro. ATP as a ligand shifts the catecholate-Fe(III) ligand metal charge transfer (LMCT) band to a longer wavelength and the redox potentials of both DA and the Fe(III) center in the ternary complex. Remarkably, the additional ligation by ATP was found to significantly reverse the catalytic effect of the Fe(III) center on the DA oxidation. The reversal is attributed to the full occupation of the Fe(III) coordination sites by ATP and DA, which blocks O2 from accessing the Fe(III) center and its further reaction with DA. The biological relevance of this complex is strongly implicated by the identification of the ternary complex in the substantia nigra of rat brain and its attenuation of cytotoxicity of the Fe(III)-DA complex. Since ATP deficiency accompanies PD and neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+)) induced PD, deficiency of ATP and the resultant impairment toward the inhibition of the Fe(III)-catalyzed DA oxidation may contribute to the pathogenesis of PD. Our finding provides new insight into the pathways of DA oxidation and its relationship with synaptic activity.

Kinetic studies of inhibition of the amyloid beta (1-42) aggregation using a ferrocene-tagged ß-sheet breaker peptide.

The aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins/peptides has been closely linked to the neuropathology of several important neurological disorders. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid beta (Aß) peptides and their aggregation are believed to be at least partially responsible for the etiology of Alzheimer's disease. The aggregate-inflicted cellular toxicity can be inhibited by short peptides whose sequences are homologous to segments of the Aß(1-42) peptide responsible for ß-sheet stacking (referred to as the ß-sheet breaker peptides). Here, a water-soluble ferrocene (Fc)-tagged ß-sheet breaker peptide, Fc-KLVFFK(6), was used as an electrochemical probe for kinetic studies of the inhibition of the Aß(1-42) fibrillation process and for determination of the optimal concentration of ß-sheet breaker peptide for efficient inhibition. Our results demonstrate that Fc-KLVFFK(6) interacts with the Aß aggregates instantaneously in solution, and a sub-stoichiometric amount of Fc-KLVFFK(6) is sufficient to inhibit the formation of the Aß oligomers and fibrils and to reduce the toxicity of Aß(1-42). The interaction between Fc-KLVFFK(6) and Aß(1-42) follows a pseudo-first-order reaction, with a rate constant of 1.89 ± 0.05 × 10(-4) s(-1). Tagging ß-sheet breaker peptides with a redox label facilitates design, screening, and rational use of peptidic inhibitors for impeding/altering Aß aggregation.

Separation of intermediates of iron-catalyzed dopamine oxidation reactions using reversed-phase ion-pairing chromatography coupled in tandem with UV-visible and ESI-MS detections.

Reversed-phase ion-pairing chromatography (RP-IPC) is coupled on-line with electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) through an interface comprising a four-way switch valve and an anion exchange column. Regeneration of the anion exchange column can be accomplished on-line by switching the four-way switch valve to interconnect the column to a regeneration solution. Positioning the anion exchange column between the RP-IPC and ESI-MS instruments allows the ion-pairing reagent (IPR) sodium octane sulfonate to be removed. The IPC-ESI-MS method enabled us to separate and detect four intermediates of the Fe(III)-catalyzed dopamine oxidation. In particular, 6-hydroxydopamine, which is short-lived and highly neurotoxic, was detected and quantified. Together with the separation of other intermediates, gaining insight into the mechanism and kinetics of the Fe(III)-catalyzed dopamine oxidation becomes possible.