Chloramine-T-Enabled Mass Spectrometric Analysis of C=C Isomers of Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Phosphatidylcholines in Human Thyroids

Specific locations of carbon-carbon double bonds (C=C) in lipids often play an essential role in biological processes, and there has been a booming development in C=C composition analysis by mass spectrometry. However, a universal derivatization and fragmentation pattern for the annotation of C= C positions in lipids is still challenging and attractive. To expand this field in lipidomics, a flexible and convenient N-tosylaziridination method was developed, with high derivatization efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity. The derivatization was very fast (15 s), and C=C numbers as well as locations could be pinpointed specifically in tandem mass spectra. By qualitative and quantitative studies of paratumor and tumor thyroid tissues of human beings, the total content of unsaturated fatty acids was suggested to be increased in tumor tissues, and good correlations in and between lysophosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylcholines were revealed by Spearman analysis. Further studies of C=C isomers showed that n-6/n-3 ratios were closely associated with human thyroid tumorigenesis, and high ratios of n-6/n-3 isomers seemed to suffer a high risk of carcinogenesis. Other isomers were not very representative; however, C=C in n-9/n-7 could also be significant for oncology research. Generally, it is supposed that both total amounts and C=C isomer ratios were related to cancer, and Ntosylaziridine derivatization could provide an alternative strategy for the C=C isomer study of disease models.

Automated summary

Specific locations of carbon-carbon double bonds (C=C) in lipids play important roles in biological processes. A N-tosylaziridination method was developed to annotate C=C positions in lipids using mass spectrometry, and it showed high efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity. Studies on human thyroid tissues suggested that increased unsaturated fatty acid content and n-6/n-3 ratios were closely associated with thyroid tumorigenesis.