Absolute quantitation of disease protein biomarkers in a single LC-MS acquisition using apolipoprotein F as an example.

Kumar A., Gangadharan B., Cobbold J., Thursz M., Zitzmann N.

LC-MS and immunoassay can detect protein biomarkers. Immunoassays are more commonly used but can potentially be outperformed by LC-MS. These techniques have limitations including the necessity to generate separate calibration curves for each biomarker. We present a rapid mass spectrometry-based assay utilising a universal calibration curve. For the first time we analyse clinical samples using the HeavyPeptide IGNIS kit which establishes a 6-point calibration curve and determines the biomarker concentration in a single LC-MS acquisition. IGNIS was tested using apolipoprotein F (APO-F), a potential biomarker for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Human serum and IGNIS prime peptides were digested and the IGNIS assay was used to quantify APO-F in clinical samples. Digestion of IGNIS prime peptides was optimised using trypsin and SMART Digest™. IGNIS was 9 times faster than the conventional LC-MS method for determining the concentration of APO-F in serum. APO-F decreased across NAFLD stages. Inter/intra-day variation and stability post sample preparation for one of the peptides was ≤13% coefficient of variation (CV). SMART Digest™ enabled complete digestion in 30 minutes compared to 24 hours using in-solution trypsin digestion. We have optimised the IGNIS kit to quantify APO-F as a NAFLD biomarker in serum using a single LC-MS acquisition.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-017-12229-2

Type

Journal article

Publication Date

2017-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Volume

7

Addresses

Oxford Antiviral Drug Discovery Unit, Oxford Glycobiology Institute, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, United Kingdom. abhinav.kumar@bioch.ox.ac.uk.

Keywords

Humans, Trypsin, Peptides, Apolipoproteins, Reagent Kits, Diagnostic, Immunoassay, Calibration, Chromatography, Liquid, Sensitivity and Specificity, Reproducibility of Results, Amino Acid Sequence, Mass Spectrometry, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Biomarkers

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