Surface plasmon resonance imaging coupled to on-chip mass spectrometry: a new tool to probe protein-GAG interactions

A biosensor device for the detection and characterization of protein-glycosaminoglycan interactions is being actively sought and constitutes the key to identifying specific carbohydrate ligands, an important issue in glycoscience. Mass spectrometry (MS) hyphenated methods are promising approaches for carbohydrate enrichment and subsequent structural characterization. In the study herein, we report the analysis of interactions between the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) heparin (HP) and heparan sulfate (HS) and various cytokines by coupling surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) for thermodynamic analysis method and MALDI-TOF MS for structural determination. To do so, we developed an SPR biochip in a microarray format and functionalized it with a self-assembled monolayer of short poly(ethylene oxide) chains for grafting the human cytokines stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1 alpha), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and interferon-gamma. The thermodynamic parameters of the interactions between these cytokines and unfractionated HP/HS and derived oligosaccharides were successively determined using SPRi monitoring, and the identification of the captured carbohydrates was carried out directly on the biochip surface using MALDI-TOF MS, revealing cytokine preferential affinity for GAGs. The MS identification was enhanced by on-chip digestion of the cytokine-bound GAGs with heparinase, leading to the detection of oligosaccharides likely involved in the binding sequence of GAG ligands. Although several carbohydrate array-based assays have been reported, this study is the first report of the successful analysis of protein-GAG interactions using SPRi-MS coupling.