MS, high-throughput

Many diseases are characterized by the expression of specific proteins in some cases, malignant cells yield unique protein profiles when total cellular protein extracts are analyzed by proteomic methods such as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis or matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). High-throughput proteomic studies may be useful to differentiate normal cells from cancer cells, to identify and define the use of biomarkers for specific cancers, and to characterize the clinical course of disease. Proteomics can also be used to isolate and characterize potential drug targets and to evaluate the efficacy of treatments. 

Wide use of TLC-MS is hampered by the lack of commercially available interfaces. This also restricts automation and high throughput. Commercial direct insertion probes for scanning TLC-MS are available [811]. Compared with on-line LC-MS operation, TLC-MS hyphenation is much less highly developed. 

The use of direct UV spectrophotometry to measure sample concentrations in pharmaceutical research is uncommon, presumably because of the prevalence and attractiveness of HPLC and LC/MS methods. Consequently, most researchers are unfamiliar with how useful direct UV can be. The UV method is much faster than the other methods, and this is very important in high-throughput screening. 

Current proteomics studies rely almost exclusively on 2D gel electrophoresis to resolve proteins before MALDI-TOF or ESI-MS/MS approaches. A drawback of the 2D gel approach is that it is relatively slow and work intensive. In addition, the in-gel proteolytic digestion of spots followed by mass spectrometry is a one-at-a-time method that is not well suited for high throughput studies. Therefore, considerable effort is being directed towards alternate methods for higher throughput protein characterization. 

Ackermann, B.L., Michael, J., Berna, MJ. et al. (2002) Recent advances in use of LC/MS/MS for quantitative high-throughput bioanalytical support of drug discovery. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2, 53-66. 

High-throughput proteomic methods hold great promise for the discovery of novel protein biomarkers that can be translated into practical interventions for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. These approaches may also facilitate the development of therapeutic agents that are targeted to specific molecular alterations in diseases such as cancer. In many cases, malignant cells yield unique protein profiles when total protein extracts from such cells are analyzed by 2-D gel electrophoresis or mass spectrometry (MS) methods. Such proteomic studies have the potential to provide an important complement to the analysis of DNA and mRNA extracts from these tissues.1... 

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