N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins is essential for discovering novel biomarkers and understanding glycan functions in cellular events. Additionally, N-glycan analysis of protein biopharmaceuticals is very important for human use. In this current article, a high-throughput strategy for identifying and quantifying N-glycan structures was presented using the HILIC-FLD-MS/MS technique.
Glycosylation is a vital modification found in proteins. N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins is required to detect novel biomarker candidates and determine glycan alterations in diseases. Most commercially available biopharmaceutical proteins are glycoproteins. The efficacy of these drugs is affected by glycosylation patterns. Therefore, an in-depth characterization method for the N-glycans is necessary. Here, we present a comprehensive approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis of N-glycans using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection and tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-FLD-MS/MS). N-glycans were released from glycoproteins with a facile method and labeled by a procainamide fluorophore tag in the strategy. Subsequently, the procainamide labeled N-glycans were analyzed by a HILIC-FLD-MS/MS technique. In this approach, N-glycan structures were confirmed by the tandem mass spectrometric analysis, whereas fluorescence detection was used for the quantitative analysis. An application for data analysis of the detected N-glycan peaks is described in the study. This protocol can be applied to any glycoprotein extracted from various species.
Glycosylation is a vital post-translational modification observed in proteins1. Multiple enzymatical processes regulate glycosylation modification in cellular organisms. Glycans are attached to the proteins by these enzymatical processes, and the proteins subjected to this modification are called glycoproteins1. Two glycosylation types are commonly observed in proteins. O-glycosylation is the attachment of O-glycans to the side chain of serine or threonine amino acid residues. N-glycosylation is the attachment of N-glycans to the side chain of asparagine amino acid residue in a protein.
The structure, stability, and folding of the proteins are affected by glycan attachments2. The glycosylation process dramatically influences the functions of the proteins, and glycoproteins regulate many cellular functions in organisms3,4. For example, heavily glycosylated proteins protect their glycoproteins from proteolytic degradation5. Another example is glycans of thyroid gland proteins that regulate Tg transport and hormone synthesis6,7. To explain their roles in cellular events, an in-depth characterization of glycoproteins is required8.
N-glycan profiles of the glycoproteins change in disease situations9,10,11,12. Profiling N-glycans derived from crucial glycoproteins or body fluids is required to discover novel biomarkers and understand the enzymatic activity changes in disease cases. On the other hand, most protein biopharmaceuticals are glycoproteins, and their glycan profiles influence drug efficacy13. Therefore, an acceptable method of N-glycan profiling must be performed in developing proper protein biopharmaceuticals for human use14.
Glycomics is an emerging discipline used to identify and quantify glycan structures of glycosylated molecules15,16. Many methods have been utilized for profiling the glycans of glycosylated species, including NMR17 and MS18. Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography-with Fluorescence Detection (HPLC-HILIC-FLD) is the gold standard method for profiling N-glycans derived from glycoproteins19. When this strategy is combined with mass spectrometric detection, identifying N-glycan structures could be easier and more reliable. Most fluorescence tags used in N-glycan analysis with mass spectrometry have low ionization efficiencies. In contrast, procainamide increases the ionization efficiencies of N-glycans, which is used to obtain efficient tandem mass spectra of N-glycan structures20,21. Specific fragments can be obtained from this strategy by tandem mass spectrometry for the structural identification of N-glycans such as core fucosylated22 (proc-HexNAc1Fuc1) and bisecting types23 (proc-Hex1HexNAc3, proc-Hex1HexNAc3Fuc1).
This study demonstrates a facile protocol for the N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins with HILIC-FLD-MS/MS. The presented method includes four steps: (1) releasing of N-glycans from glycoproteins (2) labeling of N-glycans by a procainamide tag (3) purification of the procainamide labeled N-glycans, and (4) data analysis.
NOTE: The human plasma used is commercially available (Table of Materials). No further biological samples obtained from humans were used.
1. Glycan release
2. Purification of Procainamide Labeled N- glycans by Solid-phase Extraction (SPE) Cartridge
3. HILIC-FLD-MS/MS Analysis
4. Data Analysis
In this presented approach, the N-glycans were first released, labeled by the procainamide tag and purified by cellulose-containing SPE cartridges. Then, N-glycan analysis of IgG, trastuzumab, and human plasma were performed by an HPLC-HILIC-FLD-MS/MS system. The MS (base peak) and FLD chromatograms of the determined N-glycan structures obtained from IgG and trastuzumab are shown in Figure 1, respectively. The MS/MS data obtained from these analyses were imported to the software and searched against a glycan database. Example MS/MS annotations of glycan structures from MS/MS spectra are given in Supplementary Figure 5. The lists of the detected N-glycan structures are provided in Supplementary Information Table S1 and S2 for IgG and trastuzumab, respectively. In addition, core fucosylated and bisected N-glycan types were detected by the analysis of fragment ions (proc-N1F1 (m/z 587.3+), proc-H1N3 (m/z 1009.5+) and proc-H1N3F1 (m/z 1155.5+) obtained from tandem MS analysis.
Figure 1: HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis of IgG and trastuzumab. Base peak and fluorescent chromatograms of procainamide-labeled N-glycans of (A, B) IgG and (C, D) trastuzumab, respectively. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
This strategy was also followed by the analysis of human plasma glycoproteome (Figure 2). The list of the N-glycans were listed in Supplementary Table S3 including the core fucosylation and bisecting N-glycan information. In the strategy, a python-based open-source tool was used to quantify N-glycan structures by using FLD chromatograms. The N-glycan profile of IgG N-glycans were exemplified and displayed in Figure 3. Thus, N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins were achieved by HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis.
Figure 2: HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis of human plasma glycome. (A) Base peak chromatogram (B) fluorescent chromatogram. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: Relative abundances of IgG N-glycans. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Supplementary Figure 1: The gradient program applied in the study is illustrated. Please click here to download this File.
Supplementary Figure 2. Mass spectrometric parameters applied in the study. Please click here to download this File.
Supplementary Figure 3: The parameters for searching glycan structures used in the study. Please click here to download this File.
Supplementary Figure 4: Parameters applied for the extraction of peak areas. Please click here to download this File.
Supplementary Figure 5. Annotated MS/MS spectra of IgG N-glycans. (A) H3N5F1 (B) H4N4F1. Please click here to download this File.
Supplementary Table 1: The list of N-glycans belonging to IgG obtained from HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis. Please click here to download this Table.
Supplementary Table 2: The list of N-glycans belonging to trastuzumab obtained from HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis. Please click here to download this Table.
Supplementary Table 3: The list of N-glycans belonging to human plasma glycoproteome obtained from HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis. Please click here to download this Table.
N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins includes challenging steps. Although there are many different methodologies for this purpose, a suitable approach should be selected for both identification and quantification of N-glycan structures14. HILIC-FLD is the gold standard approach for the quantification of N-glycans. However, identification of all N-glycan types by FLD detection is not achieved. Therefore, tandem MS analysis is needed for confirming N-glycan structures derived from glycoproteins. By the combination of FLD and MS detection in the same system, analysis of the N-glycans is more efficient23. Due to these reasons, both identification and quantification of N-glycans are performed by HILIC-FLD-MS/MS for standard glycoproteins as well as complex samples such as human plasma.
N-glycans are labeled by a fluorescence tag from their reducing ends to detect and quantify them by FLD25. N-glycans have low ionization efficiencies in mass spectrometric analysis. Procainamide is a fluorescence tag that improves the ionization efficiencies compared with commonly applied tags such as 2-AB (2-aminobenzamide)20,21. Thus, we selected this tag for achieving tandem MS analysis of N-glycans efficiently. This tag also allows confirmation of core fucosylated and bisected N-glycan types by monitoring specific fragments obtained from tandem MS analysis22,23 as stated in the presented protocol.
Collision-induced dissociation (CID) or higher-energy C-trap dissociation (HCD) is commonly applied to interpret the N-glycan spectra8. The MS/MS spectra can allow detection of the branching points and elongation of the N-glycan structure26. In addition, the linkage position of N-glycans can be assigned by monitoring cross-ring fragmentation in CID and HCD27. However, data analysis software is necessary to identify N-glycan structures together with instrumentation and bioanalytical methods28. Several commercially or freely available tools from literature can be used with the presented approach for interpreting N-glycan structures.
Purification of labeled N-glycans is usually applied before HILIC-FLD-MS/MS analysis because sample preparation steps contain various chemicals that have interfered with the analysis. Several commercially available sorbents based on HILIC interaction can be used for the purification of N-glycans29. Cellulose is one of the cheapest alternatives for the purification of N-glycans. It is employed not only for batch-mode experiments but also for solid-phase extraction applications. In addition, purifications can be achieved in 96 well plate platforms using cellulose. The presented method with the purification step may be optimized depending on the sample size. On the other hand, alternative materials such as porous graphitized carbon (PGC) can be inserted into the protocol to purify procainamide labeled N-glycans. Furthermore, PGC-based purification can be used with cellulose-based HILIC purification to increase purification efficiency30.
Data analysis for profiling N-glycans is a time-consuming process. Recently, a python-based open-source tool to quantify peaks of N-glycans has been demonstrated24. This tool allows automated data analysis workflow for peak selection and retention time calibration. In addition, a large amount of data belonging to N-glycan samples can be analyzed by a batch-mode application. This tool makes the data analysis faster and easier. Additionally, other software can be inserted into the current strategy to evaluate the obtained data. In conclusion, a facile method was demonstrated here to profile N-glycans using HILIC-FLD-MS/MS. This approach can apply to any glycoproteins such as protein biopharmaceuticals as well as complex samples to profile N-glycans.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was partly supported by the Ministry of Development-Republic of Turkey with project number: 2016 K121230. Bekir Salih gratefully acknowledges the Turkish Academy of Science (TUBA) for the partial financial support.
Acetic acid | Carlo Erba Reagents | 401413 | Glacial RS For LC/MS |
Acetonitrile | Merck | 1000292500 | LC-MS LiChrosolv |
Agilent 1200 Series HPLC with 1260 Series FLD dedector | Agilent Technologies | ||
Ammoniumm Formate | Carlo Erba Reagents | 419741 | For LC/MS |
Bruker TIMS-TOF (Q-TOF) Mass Spectrometry | Bruker Daltonics | ||
Cellulose | Sigma Aldrich | 310697 | microcrystalline, powder, 20 μm |
Deionized Water | Carlo Erba Reagents | 412111 | For LC/MS |
Dimethyl sulfoxide | Sigma Aldrich | 41639 | BioUltra, for molecular biology, ≥99.5% (GC) |
Empty polypropylene SPE Tube with PE frits | Sigma Aldrich | 54220 | 20 μm porosity,volume 1 mL |
Extraction Manifold, 20-position | Waters | WAT200607 | Complete with rack for 13 x 100 mm tubes |
Human Plasma | Sigma Aldrich | P9523 | lyophilized |
IGEPAL CA-630 | Sigma Aldrich | I8896 | for molecular biology |
IgG | Sigma Aldrich | I4506 | lyophilized powder |
Phosphate buffered saline | Sigma Aldrich | P4417 | Tablet |
PNGase F enzyme | Promega | V483A | |
Procainamide hydrochloride | abcam | ab120955 | |
Sodium cyanoborohydride | Sigma Aldrich | 156159 | reagent grade, 95% |
Sodium dodecyl sulfate | Sigma Aldrich | 71725 | |
trastuzumab | Roche Diagnostics | ||
Trifluoroacetic acid | Sigma Aldrich | 302031 | for HPLC, ≥99.9% |
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