Discovery- and target-based protein quantification using iTRAQ and pulsed Q collision induced dissociation (PQD)

Pulsed Q collision-induced dissociation (PQD) was developed in part to facilitate detection of low-mass reporter ions using labeling reagents (e.g. iTRAQ) on LTQ platforms. It has generally been recognized that the scan speed and sensitivity of an LTQ are superior than those of an Orbitrap using the higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD). However, the use of PQD in quantitative proteomics is limited, primarily due to the meager reproducibility of reporter ion ratios. Optimizations of PQD for iTRAQ quantification using LTQ have been reported, but a universally applicable strategy for quantifying the less abundant proteins has not been fully established. Adjustments of the AGC target, μscan, or scan speed offer only incremental improvements in reproducibility. From our experience, however, satisfactory coefficients of variation (CVs) of reporter ion ratios were difficult to achieve using the discovery-based approach. As an alternative, we implemented a target-based approach that obviates data dependency to allow repetitive data acquisitions across chromatographic peaks. Such a strategy generates enough data points for more reliable quantification. Using cAMP treatment in S49 cell lysates and this target-based approach, we were able to validate differentially expressed proteins, which were initially identified as potential candidates using the discovery-based PQD. The target-based strategy also yielded results comparable to those obtained from HCD in an Orbitrap. Our findings should aid LTQ users who desire to explore iTRAQ quantitative proteomics but have limited access to the more costly Orbitrap or other instruments.     

iTRAQ reagent-based quantitative proteomic analysis on a linear ion trap mass spectrometer

For proteomic analysis using tandem mass spectrometry, linear ion trap instruments provide unsurpassed sensitivity but unreliably detect low mass peptide fragments, precluding their use with iTRAQ reagent-labeled samples. Although the popular LTQ linear ion trap supports analyzing iTRAQ reagent-labeled peptides via pulsed Q dissociation, PQD, its effectiveness remains questionable. Using a standard mixture, we found careful tuning of relative collision energy necessary for fragmenting iTRAQ reagent-labeled peptides, and increasing microscan acquisition and repeat count improves quantification but identifies somewhat fewer peptides. We developed software to calculate abundance ratios via summing reporter ion intensities across spectra matching to each protein, thereby providing maximized accuracy. Testing found that results closely corresponded between analysis using optimized LTQ-PQD settings plus our software and using a Qstar instrument. Thus, we demonstrate the effectiveness of LTQ-PQD analyzing iTRAQ reagent-labeled peptides, and provide guidelines for successful quantitative proteomic studies.     

Identification of carbonylated proteins from enriched rat skeletal muscle mitochondria using affinity chromatography-stable isotope labeling and tandem mass spectrometry

We describe a strategy for the identification of carbonylated proteins from complex protein mixtures that combines biotin hydrazide labeling of protein carbonyl groups, avidin affinity chromatography, multiplexed iTRAQ reagent stable isotope labeling, and analysis using pulsed Q dissociation (PQD) operation on an LTQ linear ion trap mass spectrometer. This strategy provided the ability to distinguish biotin hydrazide labeled, avidin purified, carbonylated proteins from non-carbonylated background proteins with affinity for the avidin column, derived from a control sample. Applying this strategy to the identification of crudely enriched rat skeletal muscle mitochondrial protein isolates, we generated a catalogue of over 200 carbonylated proteins by virtue of their quantitative enrichment compared to the control sample. The catalogue contains many mitochondrial localized proteins shown to be susceptible to carbonyl modification for the first time, including numerous transmembrane proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Other oxidative modifications (e.g. nitrosylation, hydroxylation) were also identified on many of the carbonylated proteins, providing further evidence of the susceptibility of these proteins to oxidative damage. The results also demonstrate the utility of PQD operation on the LTQ instrument for quantitative analysis of iTRAQ reagent-labeled peptide mixtures, as well as the quantitative reproducibility of the avidin-affinity enrichment method.     

Electron transfer dissociation of iTRAQ labeled peptide ions

Triply and doubly charged iTRAQ ( isobaric tagging for relative and absolute quantitation) labeled peptide cations from a tryptic peptide mixture of bovine carbonic anhydrase II were subjected to electron transfer ion/ion reactions to investigate the effect of charge bearing modifications associated with iTRAQ on the fragmentation pattern. It was noted that electron transfer dissociation (ETD) of triply charged or activated ETD (ETD and supplemental collisional activation of intact electron transfer species) of doubly charged iTRAQ tagged peptide ions yielded extensive sequence information, in analogy with ETD of unmodified peptide ions. That is, addition of the fixed charge iTRAQ tag showed relatively little deleterious effect on the ETD performance of the modified peptides. ETD of the triply charged iTRAQ labeled peptide ions followed by collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the product ion at m/ z 162 yielded the reporter ion at m/ z 116, which is the reporter ion used for quantitation via CID of the same precursor ions. The reporter ion formed via the two-step activation process is expected to provide quantitative information similar to that directly produced from CID. A 103 Da neutral loss species observed in the ETD spectra of all the triply and doubly charged iTRAQ labeled peptide ions is unique to the 116 Da iTRAQ reagent, which implies that this process also has potential for quantitation of peptides/proteins. Therefore, ETD with or without supplemental collisional activation, depending on the precursor ion charge state, has the potential to directly identify and quantify the peptides/proteins simultaneously using existing iTRAQ reagents.     

Combining low- and high-energy tandem mass spectra for optimized peptide quantification with isobaric tags

Isobaric tagging, via TMT or iTRAQ, is widely used in quantitative proteomics. To date, tandem mass spectrometric analysis of isobarically-labeled peptides with hybrid ion trap–orbitrap (LTQ-OT) instruments has been mainly carried out with higher-energy C-trap dissociation (HCD) or pulsed q dissociation (PQD). HCD provides good fragmentation of the reporter-ions, but peptide sequence-ion recovery is generally poor compared to collision-induced dissociation (CID). Herein, we describe an approach where CID and HCD spectra are combined. The approach ensures efficiently both identification and relative quantification of proteins. Tandem mass tags (TMTs) were used to label digests of human plasma and LC-MS/MS was performed with an LTQ-OT instrument. Different HCD collision energies were tested. The benefits to use CID and HCD with respect to HCD alone were demonstrated in terms of number of identifications, subsequent number of quantifiable proteins, and quantification accuracy. A program was developed to merge the peptide sequence-ion m/z range from CID spectra and the reporter-ion m/z range from HCD spectra, and alternatively to separate both spectral data into different files. As parallel CID in the LTQ almost doesn't affect the analysis duty cycle, the procedure should become a standard for quantitative analyses of proteins with isobaric tagging using LTQ-OT instruments.     

Integrating titania enrichment,iTRAQ labeling,and Orbitrap CID‐HCD for global identification and quantitative analysis of phosphopeptides

Recent advances in MS instrumentation and progresses in phosphopeptide enrichment, in conjunction with more powerful data analysis tools, have facilitated unbiased characterization of thousands of site‐specific phosphorylation events. Combined with stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture metabolic labeling, these techniques have made it possible to quantitatively evaluate phosphorylation changes in various physiological states in stable cell lines. However, quantitative phosphoproteomics in primary cells and tissues remains a major technical challenge due to the lack of adequate techniques for accurate quantification. Here, we describe an integrated strategy allowing for large scale quantitative profiling of phosphopeptides in complex biological mixtures. In this technique, the mixture of proteolytic peptides was subjected to phosphopeptide enrichment using a titania affinity column, and the purified phosphopeptides were subsequently labeled with iTRAQ reagents. After further fractionation by strong‐cation exchange, the peptides were analyzed by LC‐MS/MS on an Orbitrap mass spectrometer, which collects CID and high‐energy collisional dissociation (HCD) spectra sequentially for peptide identification and quantitation. We demonstrate that direct phosphopeptide enrichment of protein digests by titania affinity chromatography substantially improves the efficiency and reproducibility of phosphopeptide proteomic analysis and is compatible with downstream iTRAQ labeling. Conditions were optimized for HCD normalized collision energy to balance the overall peptide identification and quantitation using the relative abundances of iTRAQ reporter ions. Using this approach, we were able to identify 3557 distinct phosphopeptides from HeLa cell lysates, of which 2709 were also quantified from HCD scans.     

Robust and sensitive iTRAQ quantification on an LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometer

Isobaric stable isotope tagging reagents such as tandem mass tags or isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification enable multiplexed quantification of peptides via reporter ion signals in the low mass range of tandem mass spectra. Until recently, the poor recovery of low mass fragments observed in tandem mass spectra acquired on ion trap mass spectrometers precluded the use of these reagents on this widely available instrument platform. The Pulsed Q Dissociation (PQD) technique allows negotiating this limitation but suffers from poor fragmentation efficiency, which has raised doubts in the community as to its practical utility. Here we show that by carefully optimizing instrument parameters such as collision energy, activation Q, delay time, ion isolation width, number of microscans, and number of trapped ions, low m/z fragment ion intensities can be generated that enable accurate peptide quantification at the 100 amol level. Side by side comparison of PQD on an LTQ Orbitrap with CID on a five-year old Q-Tof Ultima using complex protein digests shows that whereas precision of quantification of 10-15% can be achieved by both approaches, PQD quantifies twice as many proteins. PQD on an LTQ Orbitrap also outperforms "higher energy collision induced dissociation" on the same instrument using the recently introduced octapole collision cell in terms of lower limit of quantification. Finally, we demonstrate the significant analytical potential of iTRAQ quantification using PQD on an LTQ Orbitrap by quantitatively measuring the kinase interaction profile of the small molecule drug imatinib in K-562 cells. This article gives practical guidance for the implementation of PQD, discusses its merits, and for the first time, compares its performance to higher energy collision-induced dissociation.     

同位素标记相对和绝对定量蛋白组技术研究进展

近年来定量蛋白组学技术迅速发展,目前常用的有双向荧光差异凝胶电泳、同位素亲和标记、15N同位素标记、同位素标记相对和绝对定量和细胞培养条件下稳定同位素标记技术等。同位素标记相对和绝对定量技术以其高通量、高灵敏度、高重复性、高动态检测限和能对各种复杂样品进行相对和绝对定量研究等优势而备受研究者青睐,目前已发展到在同一实验中分析8组样品,增加了实验设计的灵活性。我们就同位素标记相对和绝对定量技术在定量蛋白组史中的地位作用、研究策略,以及在病毒致病机制研究和医药临床相关问题中的应用做简要综述。     

Proteomic analysis of human cataract aqueous humour: Comparison of one-dimensional gel LCMS with two-dimensional LCMS of unlabelled and iTRAQ®-labelled specimens

In this study, we report a comparative and quantitative analysis by mass spectrometry of the protein content of aqueous humour from cataract (control) patients. In addition to protein profiling, the approach is layered with quantitative proteomics using the iTRAQ? methodology. Aqueous humour from ten clinically-matched patients was collected and depleted of albumin and immunoglobulin G. Pairs of patient material were pooled and divided into three aliquots for subsequent analysis by alternative proteomic approaches. Excluding keratin, trypsin, residual albumin and immunoglobulins, a total of 198 protein groups were identified across the entire study. Relative protein quantitation with iTRAQ? revealed that 88% of the proteins had a maximal ±2-fold differential regulation between 3 of the 4 labelled samples, indicating minimal variation. The identified proteins were categorised by gene ontology and one third of the proteins were annotated as extracellular. The major molecular functions of the proteins in aqueous humour are binding (protein, metal ion, heparin, and DNA) and inhibition of proteolytic activity. Complementary to molecular function, the predominant biological processes for the proteins in aqueous humour are assigned to inflammatory and immune responses, and transport.     

Optimized proteomic analysis of a mouse model of cerebellar dysfunction using amine-specific isobaric tags

Recent proteomic applications have demonstrated their potential for revealing the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. The present study quantifies cerebellar protein changes in mice that are deficient in plasma membrane calcium ATPase 2 (PMCA2), an essential neuronal pump that extrudes calcium from cells and is abundantly expressed in Purkinje neurons. PMCA2-null mice display motor dyscoordination and unsteady gait deficits observed in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and ataxia. We optimized an amine-specific isobaric tags (iTRAQ)-based shotgun proteomics workflow for this study. This workflow took consideration of analytical variance as a function of ion signal intensity and employed biological repeats to aid noise reduction. Even with stringent protein identification criteria, we could reliably quantify nearly 1000 proteins, including many neuronal proteins that are important for synaptic function. We identified 21 proteins that were differentially expressed in PMCA2-null mice. These proteins are involved in calcium homeostasis, cell structure and chromosome organization. Our findings shed light on the molecular changes that underlie the neurological deficits observed in PMCA2-null mice. The optimized workflow presented here will be valuable for others who plan to implement the iTRAQ method.     

Human Alzheimer’s disease synaptic <Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis>-GlcNAc site mapping and iTRAQ expression proteomics with ion trap mass spectrometry

Neuronal synaptic functional deficits are linked to impaired learning and memory in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We recently demonstrated that O-GlcNAc, a novel cytosolic and nuclear carbohydrate post-translational modification, is enriched at neuronal synapses and positively regulates synaptic plasticity linked to learning and memory in mice. Reduced levels of O-GlcNAc have been observed in AD, suggesting a possible link to deficits in synaptic plasticity. Using lectin enrichment and mass spectrometry, we mapped several human cortical synaptic O-GlcNAc modification sites. Overlap in patterns of O-GlcNAcation between mouse and human appears to be high, as previously mapped mouse synaptic O-GlcNAc sites in Bassoon, Piccolo, and tubulin polymerization promoting protein p25 were identified in human. Novel O-GlcNAc modification sites were identified on Mek2 and RPN13/ADRM1. Mek2 is a signaling component of the Erk 1/2 pathway involved in synaptic plasticity. RPN13 is a component of the proteasomal degradation pathway. The potential interplay of phosphorylation with mapped O-GlcNAc sites, and possible implication of those sites in synaptic plasticity in normal versus AD states is discussed. iTRAQ is a powerful differential isotopic quantitative approach in proteomics. Pulsed Q dissociation (PQD) is a recently introduced fragmentation strategy that enables detection of low mass iTRAQ reporter ions in ion trap mass spectrometry. We optimized LTQ ion trap settings for PQD-based iTRAQ quantitation and demonstrated its utility in O-GlcNAc site mapping. Using iTRAQ, abnormal synaptic expression levels of several proteins previously implicated in AD pathology were observed in addition to novel changes in synaptic specific protein expression including Synapsin II.     

The potential role of ORM2 in the development of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in the world. The risk of death is closely correlated to the stage of CRC at the time of primary diagnosis. Therefore, there is a compelling need for the identification of blood biomarkers that can enable early detection of CRC. We used a quantitative proteomic approach with isobaric labeling (iTRAQ) to examine changes in the plasma proteome of 10 patients with CRC compared to healthy volunteers. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbnent Assay (ELISA) and Western blot were used for further validation. In our quantitative proteomics analysis, we detected 75 human plasma proteins with more than 95% confidence using iTRAQ labeling in conjunction with microQ-TOF MS. 9 up-regulated and 4 down-regulated proteins were observed in the CRC group. The ORM2 level in plasma was confirmed to be significantly elevated in patients suffering from CRC compared with the controls. ORM2 expression in CRC tissues was significantly increased compared with that in corresponding adjacent normal mucous tissues (P<0.001). ITRAQ together with Q-TOF/MS is a sensitive and reproducible technique of quantitative proteomics. Alteration in expression of ORM2 suggests that ORM2 could be used as a potential biomarker in the diagnosis of CRC.     

Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Human Lung Tumor Xenografts Treated with the Ectopic ATP Synthase Inhibitor Citreoviridin

ATP synthase is present on the plasma membrane of several types of cancer cells. Citreoviridin, an ATP synthase inhibitor, selectively suppresses the proliferation and growth of lung cancer without affecting normal cells. However, the global effects of targeting ectopic ATP synthase in vivo have not been well defined. In this study, we performed quantitative proteomic analysis using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) and provided a comprehensive insight into the complicated regulation by citreoviridin in a lung cancer xenograft model. With high reproducibility of the quantitation, we obtained quantitative proteomic profiling with 2,659 proteins identified. Bioinformatics analysis of the 141 differentially expressed proteins selected by their relative abundance revealed that citreoviridin induces alterations in the expression of glucose metabolism-related enzymes in lung cancer. The up-regulation of enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis and storage of glucose indicated that citreoviridin may reduce the glycolytic intermediates for macromolecule synthesis and inhibit cell proliferation. Using comprehensive proteomics, the results identify metabolic aspects that help explain the antitumorigenic effect of citreoviridin in lung cancer, which may lead to a better understanding of the links between metabolism and tumorigenesis in cancer therapy.     

Higher-energy collision-activated dissociation without a dedicated collision cell

Beam-type collisional activation dissociation (HCD) offers many advantages over resonant excitation collision-activated dissociation, including improved identification of phosphorylated peptides and compatibility with isobaric tag-based quantitation (e.g. tandem mass tag (TMT) and iTRAQ). However, HCD typically requires specially designed and dedicated collision cells. Here we demonstrate that HCD can be performed in the ion injection pathway of a mass spectrometer with a standard atmospheric inlet (iHCD). Testing this method on complex peptide mixtures revealed similar identification rates to collision-activated dissociation (2883 versus 2730 IDs for iHCD/CAD, respectively) and precursor-product-conversion efficiency comparable to that achieved within a dedicated collision cell. Compared with pulsed-q dissociation, a quadrupole ion trap-based method that retains low-mass isobaric tag reporter ions, iHCD yielded isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification reporter ions 10-fold more intense. This method involves no additional hardware and can theoretically be implemented on any mass spectrometer with an atmospheric inlet.     

Sub-proteomic fractionation,iTRAQ, and OFFGEL-LC–MS/MS approaches to cardiac proteomics

Using an in solution based approach with a sub-proteomic fraction enriched in cardiac sarcomeric proteins; we identified protein abundance in ischemic and non-ischemic regions of rat hearts stressed by acute myocardial ischemia by ligating the left-anterior descending coronary artery in vivo for 1 h without reperfusion. Sub-cellular fractionation permitted more in depth analysis of the proteome by reducing the sample complexity. A series of differential centrifugations produced nuclear, mitochondrial, cytoplasmic, microsomal, and sarcomeric enriched fractions of ischemic and non-ischemic tissues. The sarcomeric enriched fractions were labeled with isobaric tags for relative quantitation (iTRAQ), and then fractionated with an Agilent 3100 OFFGEL fractionator. The OFFGEL fractions were run on a Dionex U-3000 nano LC coupled to a ThermoFinnigan LTQ running in PQD (pulsed Q dissociation) mode. The peptides were analyzed using two search engines MASCOT (MatrixScience), and MassMatrix with false discovery rate of < 5%. Compared to no fractionation prior to LC–MS/MS, fractionation with OFFGEL improved the identification of proteins approximately four-fold. We found that approximately 22 unique proteins in the sarcomeric enriched fraction had changed at least 20%. Our workflow provides an approach for discovery of unique biomarkers or changes in the protein profile of tissue in disorders of the heart.     

An integrated approach for comparative proteomic analysis of human bile reveals overexpressed cancer-associated proteins in malignant biliary stenosis

Proteomics is a key tool in the identification of new bile biomarkers for differentiating malignant and nonmalignant biliary stenoses. Unfortunately, the complexity of bile and the presence of molecules interfering with protein analysis represent an obstacle for quantitative proteomic studies in bile samples. The simultaneous need to introduce purification steps and minimize the use of pre-fractionation methods inevitably leads to protein loss and limited quantifications. This dramatically reduces the chance of identifying new potential biomarkers. In the present study, we included differential centrifugation as a preliminary step in a quantitative proteomic workflow involving iTRAQ labeling, peptide fractionation by OFFGEL electrophoresis and LC-MS/MS, to compare protein expression in bile samples collected from patients with malignant or nonmalignant biliary stenoses. A total of 1267 proteins were identified, including a set of 322 newly described bile proteins, mainly belonging to high-density cellular fractions. The subsequent comparative analysis led to a 5-fold increase in the number of quantified proteins over previously published studies and highlighted 104 proteins overexpressed in malignant samples. Finally, immunoblot verifications performed on a cohort of 8 malignant (pancreatic adenocarcinoma, n = 4; cholangiocarcinoma, n = 4) and 5 nonmalignant samples (chronic pancreatitis, n = 3; biliary stones, n = 2) confirmed the results of proteomic analysis for three proteins: olfactomedin-4, syntenin-2 and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biomarkers: A Proteomic Challenge.     

Two‐step OFFGEL approach for effective peptide separation compatible with iTRAQ labeling

Shotgun proteomic analyses are increasingly becoming methods of choice for complex samples. The development of effective methods for fractionating peptides to reduce the complexity of the sample before mass analysis is a key point in this strategy. The OFFGEL technology has recently become a tool of choice in proteomic analysis at peptide level. This OFFGEL electrophoresis (OGE) approach allows the in‐solution separation of peptides from various biological sources by isoelectric focusing in highly resolved 24 fractions. It was also demonstrated that OGE technology is a filtering tool for pI‐based validation of peptide identification. As peptide OGE is compatible with iTRAQ labeling, OGE is finding valuable applications in quantitative proteomics as well. The aim of this study is to explain a new 2D‐OGE approach that improves the proteomic coverage of complex mixtures such as colorectal cell line lysates, and which is compatible with iTRAQ labeling.     

Proteomic characterization of the Pseudomonas putida KT2440 global response to a monocyclic aromatic compound by iTRAQ analysis and 1DE-MudPIT

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a metabolically versatile soil bacterium. To examine the effects of an aromatic compound on the proteome of this bacterium, cytosolic proteins induced by the presence of benzoate and succinate were analyzed using two liquid chromatography (LC)-based proteomic approaches: an isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) for quantitative analysis and one-dimensional gel electrophoresis/multidimensional protein identification technology (1-DE MudPIT) for protein identification. In total, 1286 proteins were identified by 1-DE MudPIT; this represents around 23.3% of the total proteome. In contrast, 570 proteins were identified and quantified by iTRAQ analysis. Of these, 55 and 52 proteins were up- and down-regulated, respectively, in the presence of benzoate. The proteins up-regulated included benzoate degradation enzymes, chemotaxis-related proteins, and ABC transporters. Enzymes related to nitrogen metabolism and pyruvate metabolism were down-regulated. These data suggest that a combination of 1-DE MudPIT and iTRAQ is an appropriate method for comprehensive proteomic analysis of biodegradative bacteria.