SISCAPA Peptide Enrichment on Magnetic Beads Using an In-line Bead Trap Device

A SISCAPA (stable isotope standards and capture by anti-peptide antibodies) method for specific antibody-based capture of individual tryptic peptides from a digest of whole human plasma was developed using a simplified magnetic bead protocol and a novel rotary magnetic bead trap device. Following off-line equilibrium binding of peptides by antibodies and subsequent capture of the antibodies on magnetic beads, the bead trap permitted washing of the beads and elution of bound peptides inside a 150-μm-inner diameter capillary that forms part of a nanoflow LC-MS/MS system. The bead trap sweeps beads against the direction of liquid flow using a continuous succession of moving high magnetic field-gradient trap regions while mixing the beads with the flowing liquid. This approach prevents loss of low abundance captured peptides and allows automated processing of a series of SISCAPA reactions. Selected tryptic peptides of α₁-antichymotrypsin and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein were enriched relative to a high abundance serum albumin peptide by 1,800 and 18,000-fold, respectively, as measured by multiple reaction monitoring. A large majority of the peptides that are bound nonspecifically in SISCAPA reactions were shown to bind to components other than the antibody (e.g. the magnetic beads), suggesting that substantial improvement in enrichment could be achieved by development of improved inert bead surfaces.MS is the method of choice for identification of peptides in digests of biological samples based on the power of MS to detect the chemically well defined masses of both peptides and their fragments produced by processes such as CID. This high level of structural specificity is also critical in improving peptide (and protein) quantitation because it overcomes the well known problems inherent in classical immunoassays related to limited antibody specificity, dynamic range, and multiplexability. In principle, a quantitative peptide assay using MRM¹ detection in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer should have nearly absolute structural specificity, a dynamic range of ∼1e+4, and the ability to multiplex measurements of hundreds of peptides per sample (1). These properties suggest that MS-based methods could ultimately replace classical immunoassay technologies in many research and clinical applications.An important limitation of present peptide MRM measurements is sensitivity. The most sensitive widely used quantitative MS platforms use nanoflow chromatography and ESI to deliver trace amounts of peptides to the mass spectrometer. However, these processes are limited in the total amount of peptide that can be applied while retaining maximum sensitivity (typically limited to ∼1 μg of total peptide sample, i.e. the product obtained from digesting ∼14 nl of plasma). The lower cutoff for detecting proteins in a digest of unfractionated plasma by this approach appears to be in the neighborhood of 1–20 μg/ml plasma concentration, which would restrict analysis to the top 100 or so proteins in plasma (1).The sensitivity of MS assays can be substantially increased by fractionating the sample at the level of intact proteins, the tryptic peptides derived from them, or both. For example, immunodepletion of the six most abundant plasma proteins, removes ∼85% of the protein mass (2) and results in an increase of ∼7-fold in the signal-to-noise of MRM measurements of peptides from the remaining proteins after digestion (1). Similarly chromatographic fractionation by strong cation exchange provides another major improvement in sensitivity (3). However, increased sample fractionation brings with it the disadvantages of increased cost and time, the risk of losing specific components, and the continued requirement for very high resolution (lengthy, low throughput) reversed phase nanoflow chromatography en route to the ESI source.An alternative fractionation approach, used in the SISCAPA method, enriches specific target peptides through capture by anti-peptide antibodies, thus circumventing these disadvantages for preselected targets (4). In its initial implementation, SISCAPA used very small (∼10-nl) columns of POROS chromatography support carrying covalently bound rabbit antibodies and provided ∼100-fold enrichment of target peptides with respect to others (4). These columns were, like immunoaffinity depletion columns (2), recyclable many times. However, the potential for sample-to-sample carryover, limitations in the amount of sample digest that could be pumped over nanoaffinity columns at flow rates slow enough to permit peptide binding, and limited flexibility in changing and multiplexing antibodies were problematic. This led us to explore an alternative approach using magnetic beads as the antibody support (5). In this case, the binding reaction can be carried out off line, allowing equilibrium binding; the magnetic beads can be removed from the digest sample and washed; and the bound peptides can be eluted in 96-well plates either manually or using automated equipment such as a KingFisher Magnetic Particle Processor (ThermoFisher). One potential pitfall remains in the handling of eluted peptides. If the anti-peptide antibodies have very high selectivity, as desired in the SISCAPA approach, then in the case of low abundance peptides, only a very small amount of peptide will be eluted from the antibody. Such small amounts of peptide are easily lost through irreversible binding to the walls of vessels such as 96-well plate wells, and the smaller the amount of peptide (i.e. the more specific the capture), the worse the problem may be.To address this issue, we report here a hybrid approach in which peptide binding occurs off line (to equilibrium), whereas the subsequent washing and elution steps are carried out within a capillary that forms part of the nanoflow LC system, thus ensuring that peptide eluted from the antibodies on the beads will not be “lost” between elution and the ESI source. Although there is extensive literature on macroscopic and microfluidic devices for manipulating magnetic beads (6–8) we were unable to find components adaptable to the small scales and high pressures required for integration into nanoflow HPLC. We therefore developed a novel “bead trap” device that satisfies the following requirements: 1) the need to retain beads in a “trap” region against the flow of liquid (loading, wash, and elution buffers for example) in a vessel of capillary dimensions, 2) the need to ensure that beads do not escape from the trap region to contaminate downstream apparatus or columns, 3) the need to ensure that beads are effectively mixed with the flowing fluids (required for efficient washing and elution), and 4) the need to ensure that all beads can be efficiently ejected from the trap region in preparation for a subsequent cycle. The device provides multiple sequential magnetic trapping regions capable of sweeping commonly used 2.8- and 1-μm magnetic beads against liquid flow to prevent escape of beads through the trapping device (i.e. the second downstream trapping zone captures beads swept by the liquid stream past the first trap and so on). In addition, the bead trap device allows the movement of these trapping regions to agitate the trapped bead mass and mix it with fluids flowing past. Finally the device allows reversal of the sweeping action to effectively eject beads from the trap into the fluid stream. The bead trap capillary can be plumbed at various points in conventional nanoflow LC systems (e.g. in place of a sample loop or connecting tube), and the device can be controlled directly by the LC-MS/MS instrument software through contact closures. We show that the bead trap provides an effective method of implementing SISCAPA experiments.