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 d(0)/d(5)-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 mu g 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 mu g (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. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.