LaCasse Z, Chivte P, Kress K, Seethi VDR, Bland J, Alhoori H, Kadkol SS, Gaillard ER. Enhancing saliva diagnostics: The impact of amylase depletion on MALDI-ToF MS profiles as applied to COVID-19.
J Mass Spectrom Adv Clin Lab 2024;
31:59-71. [PMID:
38323116 PMCID:
PMC10846328 DOI:
10.1016/j.jmsacl.2024.01.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction
Human saliva contains a wealth of proteins that can be monitored for disease diagnosis and progression. Saliva, which is easy to collect, has been extensively studied for the diagnosis of numerous systemic and infectious diseases. However, the presence of amylase, the most abundant protein in saliva, can obscure the detection of low-abundance proteins by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS), thus reducing its diagnostic utility.
Objectives
In this study, we used a device to deplete salivary amylase from water-gargle samples by affinity adsorption. Following depletion, saliva proteome profiling was performed using MALDI-ToF MS on gargle samples from individuals confirmed to have COVID-19 based on nasopharyngeal (NP) swab reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).
Results
The depletion of amylase led to increased signal intensities of various peaks and the detection of previously unobserved peaks in the MALDI-ToF MS spectra. The overall specificity and sensitivity after amylase depletion were 100% and 85.17%, respectively, for detecting COVID-19.
Conclusion
This simple, rapid, and inexpensive technique for depleting salivary amylase can reveal spectral diversity in saliva using MALDI-ToF MS, expose low-abundance proteins, and assist in establishing novel biomarkers for diseases.
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