Liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry applied to structural confirmation of enzymically prepared C-terminal-truncated derivatives of recombinant hirudin

The thrombin-specific inhibitor, hirudin variant rHV₂-Lys 47 (rHirudin), is a 65-amino acid polypeptide produced by recombinant DNA technology in yeast. Previous studies have shown that the acidic C-terminal segment of hirudin is susceptible to enzymic degradation. To address the question of C-terminal-truncated forms of the protein in terms of by-products or metabolites, well-defined reference compounds are needed. We prepared nine derivatives by carboxypeptidase Y digestion of rHirudin followed by a two-step chromatographic purification. Liquid secondary ion mass spectrometric measurements performed on peptides collected after reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography showed three pure forms (1–64, 1–63 and 1–56) and three mixtures of two forms each (1–62 + 1–61, 1–58 + 1–57 and 1–55 + 1–54), which were readily distinguished from one another by their mass spectra. Further purification of these co-eluted samples was achieved by ion-exchange chromatography and their structures were confirmed by liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry. Preliminary studies conducted on intact rHirudin indicated that this is an excellent analytical tool for mass measurements of hirudin-related proteins. Indeed, it allowed rapid (within 10–15 min), precise (0.50 a.m.u. relative to expected value), reproducible (mean MH⁺ = 6907.64 ± 0.42 a.m.u.), sensitive (up to 500 ng, i.e. 72 pmol) and specific measurement of the quasi-molecular ion (MH⁺) of the protein, and was thus readily applicable to the analysis of several derivatives.