Identification of low-abundance cancer biomarker candidate TIMP1 from serum with lectin fractionation and peptide affinity enrichment by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry

Critical reagent screening and characterization: benefits and approaches for protein biomarker assays by hybrid LC–MS

In recent years, hybrid ligand-binding assays (LBAs)/LC–MS assays have been increasingly used for quantitation of protein biomarkers in biological matrices. However, unlike in LBAs where the importance of critical reagent screening and characterization is well understood and widely reported, benefits of well-characterized hybrid LC–MS assay reagents are frequently underestimated. Two groups of analyte-specific reagents, binding reagents and assay calibrators, are considered the critical reagents for biomarker assays. In this article, we summarize the similarities and differences of critical reagents used in LBAs and hybrid LC–MS assays, overview the benefits and approaches of critical reagent screening, characterization, antibody conjugation and discuss bioanalytical considerations in hybrid LC–MS assay development for robust measurements of protein biomarkers in biological matrices.

Simultaneous Enrichment of Plasma Extracellular Vesicles and Glycoproteome for Studying Disease Biomarkers

To detect disease at an early stage and to develop effective disease treatment therapies, reliable biomarkers of diagnosis, disease progression, and its status remain a research priority. A majority of disease pathologies are primarily associated with different subsets of cells of different tissues, discrete compartments, and areas. These subsets of cells release glycoproteins and specific extracellular vesicles (EVs) including microvesicles and exosomes that carry bioactive cargoes of proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites. Body fluids like blood plasma are considered as a golden source of disease biomarkers since it contains glycoprotein and EVs released by almost all cell types. The contents of glycoproteome and EV cargo change with cell status, and they act as mirror of cell's intracellular events and status; hence, EVs and glycoproteins are promising disease biomarkers. However, their abundance in blood plasma remains low posing a serious technical problem in their identification and quantification. Until recently, technical advances and exhaustive research devised a technique for either enrichment of plasma glycoprotein or EVs, but no methodologies exist that can enrich and identify both plasma glycoprotein and EVs. To overcome this technical challenge, a method that can eliminate high-abundance entities without depleting disease-modifying molecules is required. Therefore, here we describe the detailed protocol of simultaneous enrichment of glycoproteins and EVs from blood plasma by prolonged ultracentrifugation coupled to electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography (PUC-ERLIC) and their identification and quantification by mass spectrometry-based proteomic technique.

Focused Glycomic Profiling With an Integrated Microfluidic Lectin Barcode System

Protein glycosylation is one of the key processes that play essential roles in biological functions and dysfunctions. However, progress in glycomics has considerably lagged behind genomics and proteomics, due in part to the enormous challenges associated with the analysis of glycans. Here we present a new integrated and automated microfluidic lectin barcode platform to substantially improve the performance of lectin array for focused glycomic profiling. The chip design and flow control were optimized to promote the lectin-glycan binding kinetics and the speed of lectin microarrays. Moreover, we established an on-chip lectin assay which employs a very simple blocking method to effectively suppress the undesired background due to lectin binding of antibodies. Using this technology, we demonstrated focused differential profiling of tissue-specific glycosylation changes of a biomarker, the CA125 protein purified from ovarian cancer cell lines, and different tissues from ovarian cancer patients in a fast, reproducible, and high-throughput fashion. Highly sensitive CA125 detection was also demonstrated with a detection limit much lower than the clinical cutoff value for cancer diagnosis. This microfluidic platform holds the potential to integrate with sample preparation functions to construct a fully integrated "sample-to-answer" microsystem for focused differential glycomic analysis. Thus, our technology should present a powerful tool in support of rapid advance in glycobiology and glycobiomarker development.

Integrated Microfluidic Lectin Barcode Platform for High-Performance Focused Glycomic Profiling

Protein glycosylation is one of the key processes that play essential roles in biological functions and dysfunctions. However, progress in glycomics has considerably lagged behind genomics and proteomics, due in part to the enormous challenges in analysis of glycans. Here we present a new integrated and automated microfluidic lectin barcode platform to substantially improve the performance of lectin array for focused glycomic profiling. The chip design and flow control were optimized to promote the lectin-glycan binding kinetics and speed of lectin microarray. Moreover, we established an on-chip lectin assay which employs a very simple blocking method to effectively suppress the undesired background due to lectin binding of antibodies. Using this technology, we demonstrated focused differential profiling of tissue-specific glycosylation changes of a biomarker, CA125 protein purified from ovarian cancer cell line and different tissues from ovarian cancer patients in a fast, reproducible, and high-throughput fashion. Highly sensitive CA125 detection was also demonstrated with a detection limit much lower than the clinical cutoff value for cancer diagnosis. This microfluidic platform holds the potential to integrate with sample preparation functions to construct a fully integrated "sample-to-answer" microsystem for focused differential glycomic analysis. Thus, our technology should present a powerful tool in support of rapid advance in glycobiology and glyco-biomarker development.

Immunocapture strategies in translational proteomics

Aiming at clinical studies of human diseases, antibody-assisted assays have been applied to biomarker discovery and toward a streamlined translation from patient profiling to assays supporting personalized treatments. In recent years, integrated strategies to couple and combine antibodies with mass spectrometry-based proteomic efforts have emerged, allowing for novel possibilities in basic and clinical research. Described in this review are some of the field's current and emerging immunocapture approaches from an affinity proteomics perspective. Discussed are some of their advantages, pitfalls and opportunities for the next phase in clinical and translational proteomics.

Improving Blood Plasma Glycoproteome Coverage by Coupling Ultracentrifugation Fractionation to Electrostatic Repulsion-Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography Enrichment

Blood plasma is considered to be an excellent source of disease biomarkers because it contains proteins, lipids, metabolites, cell, and cell-derived extracellular vesicles from different cellular origins including diseased tissues. Most secretory and membranous proteins that can be found in plasma are glycoproteins; therefore, the plasma glycoproteome is one of the major subproteomes that is highly enriched with disease biomarkers. As a result, the glycoproteome has attracted much attention in clinical proteomic research. The modification of proteins with glycans regulates a wide range of functions in biology, but profiling plasma glycoproteins on a global scale has been hampered by the presence of low stoichiometry of glycoproteins in a complex high abundance plasma proteome background and lack of effective analytical technique. This study aims to improve plasma glycoproteome coverage using pig plasma as a model sample with a two-step strategy. The first step involves fractionation of the plasma proteins using ultracentrifugation into supernatant and pellet that is believed to contain low abundant glycoproteins. In the second step, further enrichment of glycopeptides was achieved in both fractions by adopting electrostatic repulsion hydrophilic interaction chromatography (ERLIC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. The coverage of enriched glycoproteins in supernatant, pellet, and whole plasma sample as control was compared. Using this simple sample fractionation approach by ultracentrifugation and further ERLIC enrichment technique, sample complexity was reduced and glycoproteome coverage was significantly enhanced in supernatant and pellet fractions (by >50%) compared with whole plasma sample. This study showed that when ultracentrifugation is coupled to ERLIC glycopeptides enrichment and glycoproteome identification are significantly improved. This study demonstrates the combination of ultracentrifugation and ERLIC as a useful method for discovering plasma glycoprotein disease biomarkers.

Simultaneous Enrichment of Plasma Soluble and Extracellular Vesicular Glycoproteins Using Prolonged Ultracentrifugation-Electrostatic Repulsion-hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography (PUC-ERLIC) Approach

Plasma glycoproteins and extracellular vesicles represent excellent sources of disease biomarkers, but laboratory detection of these circulating structures are limited by their relatively low abundance in complex biological fluids. Although intensive research has led to the development of effective methods for the enrichment and isolation of either plasma glycoproteins or extracellular vesicles from clinical materials, at present it is not possible to enrich both structures simultaneously from individual patient sample, a method that affords the identification of biomarker combinations from both entities for the prediction of clinical outcomes will be clinically useful. We have therefore developed an enrichment method for use in mass spectrometry-based proteomic profiling that couples prolonged ultracentrifugation with electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography, to facilitate the recovery of both glycoproteins and extracellular vesicles from nondepleted human plasma. Following prolonged ultracentrifugation, plasma glycoproteins and extracellular vesicles were concentrated as a yellow suspension, and simultaneous analyses of low abundant secretory and vesicular glycoproteins was achieved in a single LC-MS/MS run. Using this systematic prolonged ultracentrifugation-electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography approach, we identified a total of 127 plasma glycoproteins at a high level of confidence (FDR ≤ 1%), including 48 glycoproteins with concentrations ranging from pg to ng/ml. The novel enrichment method we report should facilitate future human plasma-based proteome and glycoproteome that will identify novel biomarkers, or combinations of secreted and vesicle-derived biomarkers, that can be used to predict clinical outcomes in human patients.

Quantitative mass spectrometric analysis of glycoproteins combined with enrichment methods

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been a core technology for high sensitive and high-throughput analysis of the enriched glycoproteome in aspects of quantitative assays as well as qualitative profiling of glycoproteins. Because it has been widely recognized that aberrant glycosylation in a glycoprotein may involve in progression of a certain disease, the development of efficient analysis tool for the aberrant glycoproteins is very important for deep understanding about pathological function of the glycoprotein and new biomarker development. This review first describes the protein glycosylation-targeting enrichment technologies mainly employing solid-phase extraction methods such as hydrizide-capturing, lectin-specific capturing, and affinity separation techniques based on porous graphitized carbon, hydrophilic interaction chromatography, or immobilized boronic acid. Second, MS-based quantitative analysis strategies coupled with the protein glycosylation-targeting enrichment technologies, by using a label-free MS, stable isotope-labeling, or targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) MS, are summarized with recent published studies.

Biomarker Characterization by MALDI-TOF/MS

Mass spectrometric techniques frequently used in clinical diagnosis, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, ambient ionization mass spectrometry, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS), are discussed. Due to its ability to rapidly detect large biomolecules in trace amounts, MALDI-TOF/MS is an ideal tool for characterizing disease biomarkers in biologic samples. Clinical applications of MS for the identification and characterization of microorganisms, DNA fragments, tissues, and biofluids are introduced. Approaches for using MALDI-TOF/MS to detect various disease biomarkers including peptides, proteins, and lipids in biological fluids are further discussed. Finally, various sample pretreatment methods which improve the detection efficiency of disease biomarkers are introduced.

Mass spectrometry-based N-glycoproteomics for cancer biomarker discovery

Glycosylation is estimated to be found in over 50% of human proteins. Aberrant protein glycosylation and alteration of glycans are closely related to many diseases. More than half of the cancer biomarkers are glycosylated-proteins, and specific glycoforms of glycosylated-proteins may serve as biomarkers for either the early detection of disease or the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy for treatment of diseases. Glycoproteomics, therefore, becomes an emerging field that can make unique contributions to the discovery of biomarkers of cancers. The recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS)-based glycoproteomics, which can analyze thousands of glycosylated-proteins in a single experiment, have shown great promise for this purpose. Herein, we described the MS-based strategies that are available for glycoproteomics, and discussed the sensitivity and high throughput in both qualitative and quantitative manners. The discovery of glycosylated-proteins as biomarkers in some representative diseases by employing glycoproteomics was also summarized.

Proteomics for discovery of candidate colorectal cancer biomarkers

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Europe and other Western countries, mainly due to the lack of well-validated clinically useful biomarkers with enough sensitivity and specificity to detect this disease at early stages. Although it is well known that the pathogenesis of CRC is a progressive accumulation of mutations in multiple genes, much less is known at the proteome level. Therefore, in the last years many proteomic studies have been conducted to find new candidate protein biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and as therapeutic targets for this malignancy, as well as to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of colorectal carcinogenesis. An important advantage of the proteomic approaches is the capacity to look for multiple differentially expressed proteins in a single study. This review provides an overview of the recent reports describing the different proteomic tools used for the discovery of new protein markers for CRC such as two-dimensional electrophoresis methods, quantitative mass spectrometry-based techniques or protein microarrays. Additionally, we will also focus on the diverse biological samples used for CRC biomarker discovery such as tissue, serum and faeces, besides cell lines and murine models, discussing their advantages and disadvantages, and summarize the most frequently identified candidate CRC markers.

Mass spectrometry-based analysis of glycoproteins and its clinical applications in cancer biomarker discovery

Glycosylation is one of the most important posttranslational modifications of proteins and plays essential roles in various biological processes. Aberration in the glycan moieties of glycoproteins is associated with many diseases. It is especially critical to develop the rapid and sensitive methods for analysis of aberrant glycoproteins associated with diseases. Mass spectrometry (MS) has become a powerful tool for glycoprotein analysis. Especially, tandem mass spectrometry can provide highly informative fragments for structural identification of glycoproteins. This review provides an overview of the development of MS technologies and their applications in identification of abnormal glycoproteins and glycans in human serum to screen cancer biomarkers in recent years.

Proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics: their emerging roles in the discovery and validation of colorectal cancer biomarkers

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer in females and the third in males. Since CRC is often diagnosed at an advanced stage when prognosis is poor, identification of biomarkers for early diagnosis is urgently required. Recent advances in proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics have facilitated high-throughput profiling of data generated from CRC-related genes and proteins, providing a window of information for biomarker discovery and validation. However, transfer of candidate biomarkers from bench to bedside remains a dilemma. In this review, we will discuss emerging proteomic technologies and highlight various sample types utilized for proteomics-based identification of CRC biomarkers. Moreover, recent breakthroughs in genomics and transcriptomics for the identification of CRC biomarkers, with particular emphasis on the merits of emerging methylomic and miRNAomic strategies, will be discussed. Integration of proteomics, genomics and transcriptomics will facilitate the discovery and validation of CRC biomarkers leading to the emergence of personalized medicine.

A gene expression and pre-mRNA splicing signature that marks the adenoma-adenocarcinoma progression in colorectal cancer

It is widely accepted that most colorectal cancers (CRCs) arise from colorectal adenomas (CRAs), but transcriptomic data characterizing the progression from colorectal normal mucosa to adenoma, and then to adenocarcinoma are scarce. These transition steps were investigated using microarrays, both at the level of gene expression and alternative pre-mRNA splicing. Many genes and exons were abnormally expressed in CRAs, even more than in CRCs, as compared to normal mucosae. Known biological pathways involved in CRC were altered in CRA, but several new enriched pathways were also recognized, such as the complement and coagulation cascades. We also identified four intersectional transcriptional signatures that could distinguish CRAs from normal mucosae or CRCs, including a signature of 40 genes differentially deregulated in both CRA and CRC samples. A majority of these genes had been described in different cancers, including FBLN1 or INHBA, but only a few in CRC. Several of these changes were also observed at the protein level. In addition, 20% of these genes (i.e. CFH, CRYAB, DPT, FBLN1, ITIH5, NR3C2, SLIT3 and TIMP1) showed altered pre-mRNA splicing in CRAs. As a global variation occurring since the CRA stage, and maintained in CRC, the expression and splicing changes of this 40-gene set may mark the risk of cancer occurrence from analysis of CRA biopsies.

Quantitative mass spectrometry for colorectal cancer proteomics

This review documents the uses of quantitative MS applied to colorectal cancer (CRC) proteomics for biomarker discovery and molecular pathway profiling. Investigators are adopting various labeling and label-free MS approaches to quantitate differential protein levels in cells, tumors, and plasma/serum. We comprehensively review recent uses of this technology to examine mouse models of CRC, CRC cell lines, their secretomes and subcellular fractions, CRC tumors, CRC patient plasma/serum, and stool samples. For biomarker discovery these approaches are uncovering proteins with potential diagnostic and prognostic utility, while in vitro cell culture experiments are characterizing proteomic and phosphoproteomic responses to disrupted signaling pathways due to mutations or to inhibition of drugable enzymes.

Analysis of serum protein glycosylation by a differential lectin immunosorbant assay (dLISA)

Background

Lectin immunosorbant assays (LISAs) have been widely used for analyzing protein glycosylation. However, the analysis of serum samples by LISAs could suffer from high sample-dependent background noise. The aim of this study is to develop a differential lectin immunosorbant assay (dLISA) with reduced background interferences.

Methods

For the analysis of protein glycosylation, dLISA establishes a dose–response curve for every serum sample. The sample is split into five aliquots. Four aliquots undergo differential removal of the glycoprotein of interest by immunoprecipitation. Then, all five aliquots are subject to two measurements: protein by immunoassay and protein glycans by LISA. A dose–response curve is established by plotting glycans signals on the y-axis and protein levels on the x-axis for all the aliquots. Slope of the curve, calculated by linear progression analysis and expressed as fluorescence per concentration of protein, is used for the measurement of protein glycosylation in the serum sample.

Results/conclusions

To demonstrate the feasibility of the dLISA approach, we used recombinant, fucosylated tissue inhibitor of metallopeptidase 1 (TIMP-1) as the target glycoprotein. Magnetic beads based TIMP1 immunoassay and TIMP-1 UEA LISA were developed for the measurement of TIMP1 protein and terminal α1, 2 fucosylated glycans on TIMP1, respectively. Serum samples supplemented with differentially fucosylated recombinant TIMP-1 were used to demonstrate that the slopes measured the TIMP-1 fucosylation, and were less prone to background interference.

Analytical glycobiology at high sensitivity: current approaches and directions

This review summarizes the analytical advances made during the last several years in the structural and quantitative determinations of glycoproteins in complex biological mixtures. The main analytical techniques used in the fields of glycomics and glycoproteomics involve different modes of mass spectrometry and their combinations with capillary separation methods such as microcolumn liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. The need for high-sensitivity measurements have been emphasized in the oligosaccharide profiling used in the field of biomarker discovery through MALDI mass spectrometry. High-sensitivity profiling of both glycans and glycopeptides from biological fluids and tissue extracts has been aided significantly through lectin preconcentration and the uses of affinity chromatography.

Glycoproteomics on the rise: established methods, advanced techniques, sophisticated biological applications

Glycosylation is the most complex form of protein PTMs. Affected proteins may carry dozens of glycosylation sites with tens to hundreds of glycan residues attached to every site. Glycosylated proteins have many important functions in biology, from cellular to organismal levels, being involved in cell-cell signaling, cell adhesion, immune response, host-pathogen interactions, and development and growth. Glycosylation, however, expands the biological functional diversity of proteins at the expense of a tremendous increase in structural heterogeneity. Aberrant glycosylation of cell surface proteins, as well as their detectable fingerprint in plasma samples, has been associated with cancer, inflammatory and degenerative diseases, and congenital disorders of glycosylation. Therefore, there are on-going efforts directed toward developing new technologies and approaches for glycan sequencing and high-throughput analysis of glycosylated proteins in complex samples with simultaneous characterization of both the protein and glycan moieties. This work is aimed primarily at pinpointing the challenges associated with the large-scale analysis of glycoproteins and the latest developments in glycoproteomic research, with focus on recent advancements (2011-2012) in microcolumn separations and MS detection.

A lectin-coupled, targeted proteomic mass spectrometry (MRM MS) platform for identification of multiple liver cancer biomarkers in human plasma

Aberrantly glycosylated proteins related to liver cancer progression were captured with specific lectin and identified from human plasma by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry as multiple biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The lectin fractionation for fucosylated protein glycoforms in human plasma was conducted with a fucose-specific aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL). Following tryptic digestion of the lectin-captured fraction, plasma samples from 30 control cases (including 10 healthy, 10 hepatitis B virus [HBV], and 10 cirrhosis cases) and 10 HCC cases were quantitatively analyzed by MRM to identify which glycoproteins are viable HCC biomarkers. A1AG1, AACT, A1AT, and CERU were found to be potent biomarkers to differentiate HCC plasma from control plasmas. The AUROC generated independently from these four biomarker candidates ranged from 0.73 to 0.92. However, the lectin-coupled MRM assay with multiple combinations of biomarker candidates is superior statistically to those generated from the individual candidates with AUROC more than 0.95, which can be an alternative to the immunoassay inevitably requiring tedious development of multiple antibodies against biomarker candidates to be verified. Eventually the lectin-coupled, targeted proteomic mass spectrometry (MRM MS) platform was found to be efficient to identify multiple biomarkers from human plasma according to cancer progression.

Glycoprotein analysis using mass spectrometry: unraveling the layers of complexity

A glycoprotein exists as a heterogeneous mixture of forms due to differential glycosylation, each of which may confer different functionality and/or serve as a biochemical marker for disease. The complex structure of glycans make them a bioanalytical challenge requiring multiple mass spectrometry based approaches to gain different types of information. The following article will briefly describe recently utilized mass spectrometry methods to identify glycosylation sites and measure glycan composition, sequence, branching, and relative quantities. Potential metrological developments are discussed in light of current trends toward complete, reliable glycoanalytical characterization in a high-throughput manner.