Dual-Probe Approach for Mass Spectrometric Quantification of MUC1-Specific Terminal Gal/GalNAc In Situ

Anal Chem. 2020 Jun 16;92(12):8340-8349. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00807. Epub 2020 Jun 5.

Abstract

Protein glycosylation is a prevalent post-translational modification that mediates a variety of cellular processes. For membrane proteins, glycosylation at their terminal motif is usually more functional. Among the various glycosylation types found in membrane proteins, O-glycosylation is the most common and is closely correlated with a variety of cancer types, including breast cancer. Slightly aberrant expression of certain O-glycans can significantly affect cancer progression, especially at the cancer-related membrane protein level. To collect biological information on protein-specific glycosylation and further explore clinical applications, quantitative detection of glycosylation is essential. However, few assays have been reported for the in situ detection of protein-specific glycosylation to date. Herein, we developed a dual-probe approach for mass spectrometric quantification of protein-specific glycosylation using the terminal galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine (Gal/GalNAc) of MUC1 as a model. The dual-probe (i.e., protein probe and glycan probe) system was first designed and built. The protein probe contained an aptamer for MUC1 protein recognition and a capture DNA sequence. Correspondingly, the glycan probe had a DNA sequence complementary to that of the capture DNA, a substrate peptide containing a reporter peptide, and a tryptic cleavage site, and could be covalently linked with the terminal Gal/GalNAc. Exonuclease III enabled recycling of the hybridization-dehybridization process in a restricted space. Finally, the reporter peptide was tryptically released and quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The mass response of the reporter peptide represented the amount of MUC1-specific terminal Gal/GalNAc. This dual-probe approach was applied for in situ detection of MUC1-specific terminal Gal/GalNAc in three human breast cancer cell lines and 32 pairs of matched breast cancer tissue samples. The relationship between MUC1-specific terminal Gal/GalNAc expression and breast cancer diagnosis/prognosis was also assessed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylgalactosamine / chemistry*
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Galactose / chemistry*
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Molecular Structure
  • Mucin-1 / analysis*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • MUC1 protein, human
  • Mucin-1
  • Acetylgalactosamine
  • Galactose