Mass Spectrometry Reviews

Affinity photolabeling is a smart method to study noncovalent and transient interactions and provide a submolecular picture of the contacts between interacting partners. In this review, we will focus on the identification of peptide partners using photoaffinity labeling coupled to mass spectrometry in different contexts such as in vitro with a purified potential partner, in model systems such as model membranes, and with live cells using both targeted and nontargeted proteomics studies. Different biological partners will be described, among which glycoconjugates, oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, and lipids, with the photoreactive label inserted either on the peptide of interest or on the potential partner...

Lung cancer is a severe disease for which better diagnostic and therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. Increasing evidence implies that aberrant protein glycosylation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis and progression of lung cancer. Differences in glycosylation patterns have been previously observed between healthy and cancerous samples as well as between different lung cancer subtypes, which suggests untapped diagnostic potential. In addition, understanding the changes mediated by glycosylation may shed light on possible novel therapeutic targets and personalized treatment strategies for lung cancer patients...

Ambient ionization mass spectrometry was proved to be a powerful tool for oncological surgery. Still, it remains a translational technique on the way from laboratory to clinic. Brain surgery is the most sensitive to resection accuracy field since the balance between completeness of resection and minimization of nerve fiber damage determines patient outcome and quality of life. In this review, we summarize efforts made to develop various intraoperative support techniques for oncological neurosurgery and discuss difficulties arising on the way to clinical implementation of mass spectrometry-guided brain surgery...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Zwitterionic ring-expansion polymerization (ZREP) is a polymerization method in which a cyclic monomer is converted into a cyclic polymer through a zwitterionic intermediate. In this review, we explored the ZREP of various cyclic polymers and how mass spectrometry assists in identifying the product architectures and understanding their intricate reaction mechanism. For the majority of polymers (from a few thousand to a few million Da) matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry is the most effective mass spectrometry technique to determine the true molecular weight (MW) of the resultant product, but only when the dispersity is low (approximately below 1...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Mass spectrometry (MS) has become an essential technique to characterize dendrimers as it proved efficient at tackling analytical challenges raised by their peculiar onion-like structure. Owing to their chemical diversity, this review covers benefits of MS methods as a function of dendrimer classes, discussing advantages and limitations of ionization techniques, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) strategies to determine the structure of defective species, as well as most recently demonstrated capabilities of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) in the field...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The analysis of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) demonstrates a promising avenue of minimally invasive biopsies for diagnostics. EBC is obtained by cooling exhaled air and collecting the condensation to be utilized for downstream analysis using various analytical methods. The aqueous phase of breath contains a large variety of miscible small compounds including polar electrolytes, amino acids, cytokines, chemokines, peptides, small proteins, metabolites, nucleic acids, and lipids/eicosanoids-however, these analytes are typically present at minuscule levels in EBC, posing a considerable technical challenge...

Biodegradable polymers have been getting more and more attention because of their contribution to the plastic pollution environmental issues and to move towards a circular economy. Nevertheless, biodegradable materials still exhibit various disadvantages restraining a widespread use in the market. Therefore, additional research efforts are required to improve their performance. Mass spectrometry (MS) affords a relevant contribution to optimize biodegradable polymer synthesis, to confirm macromolecular structures, to examine along the time the progress of degradation processes and highlight advantages and drawbacks in the extensive applications...

Mass spectrometry (MS) has become a powerful technique for clinical applications with high sensitivity and specificity. Different from conventional MS diagnosis in laboratory, point-of-care (POC) analyses in clinics require mass spectrometers and analytical procedures to be friendly for novice users and applicable for on-site clinical diagnosis. The recent decades have seen the progress in the development of miniature mass spectrometers, providing a promising solution for clinical POC applications. In this review, we report recent advances of miniature mass spectrometers and their exploration in clinical applications, mainly including the rapid analysis of illegal drugs, on-site monitoring of therapeutic drugs, and detection of biomarkers...

Direct analysis in real time (DART) represents a new generation of ionization techniques that are used to rapidly ionize small molecules under ambient environments. The combination of DART with various mass spectrometry (MS) instruments allows analyzing multiple plant materials, including traditional Chinese herbal medicines (TCHMs), under simple or no sample treatment conditions. This review discussed the DART principles, including devices, ionization mechanisms, and operation parameters. Typical spectra detected by DART-MS were exhibited and discussed...

Epigenetic modifications are closely related to certain disorders of the organism, including the development of tumors. One of the main epigenetic modifications is the methylation of DNA cytosines, 5-methyl-2'-deoxycycytidine. Furthermore, 5-mdC can be oxidized to form three new modifications, 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2'-deoxycytidine, 5-formyl-2'-deoxycytidine, and 5-carboxy-2'-deoxycytidine. The coupling of liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry has been widely used for the total determination of methylated DNA cytosines in samples of biological and clinical interest...

Lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) are a type of inherited metabolic disorders in which biomolecules, accumulate as a specific substrate in lysosomes due to specific individual enzyme deficiencies. Despite the fact that LSDs are incurable, various approaches, including enzyme replacement therapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or gene therapy are now available. Therefore, a timely diagnosis is a critical initial step in patient treatment. The-state-of-the-art in LSD diagnostic uses, in the first stage, enzymatic activity determination by fluorimetry or by mass spectrometry (MS) with the aid of dry blood spots, based on different enzymatic substrate structures...

The molecular composition of exhaled human breath can reflect various physiological and pathological conditions. Considerable progress has been achieved over the past decade in real-time analysis of exhaled human breath using direct mass spectrometry methods, including selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry, proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, secondary electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, acetone-assisted negative photoionization mass spectrometry, atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry, and low-pressure photoionization mass spectrometry...

We are approaching the third decade since the establishment of the very first proteomics repositories back in the mid-'00s. New experimental approaches and technologies continuously enrich the field while producing vast amounts of mass spectrometry data. Together with initiatives to establish standard terminology and file formats, proteomics is rapidly transforming into a mature component of systems biology. Here we describe the ProteomeXchange consortium repositories. We specifically search, collect and evaluate public human tissue datasets (categorized as "complete" by the repository) submitted in 2015-2022, to both map the existing information and assess the data set reusability...

This article reviews the analytical tool chest used for characterizing alkoxylates and their associated copolymer mixtures. Specific emphasis will be placed upon the use of mass spectrometry-based techniques as rapid characterization tools for optimizing reaction processes in an industrial R&D setting. An initial tutorial will cover the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation for detailed component analysis (e.g., polyol and isocyanate) of a model polyurethane-based foam...

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been proven as an excellent tool in ocular drug research allowing analyzes from small samples and low concentrations. This review begins with a short introduction to eye physiology and ocular pharmacokinetics and the relevance of advancing ophthalmic treatments. The second part of the review consists of an introduction to ocular proteomics, with special emphasis on targeted absolute quantitation of membrane transporters and metabolizing enzymes. The third part of the review deals with liquid chromatography-MS (LC-MS) and MS imaging (MSI) methods used in the analysis of drugs and metabolites in ocular samples...