Inverse 18O labeling mass spectrometry for the rapid identification of marker/target proteins

Systematic analysis of proteins is essential in understanding human diseases and their clinical treatments. To achieve the rapid and unambiguous identification of marker or target proteins, a new procedure termed "inverse labeling" is proposed. With this procedure, to evaluate protein expression of a diseased or a drug-treated sample in comparison with a control sample, two converse labeling experiments are performed in parallel. The perturbed sample (by disease or by drug treatment) is labeled in one experiment, whereas the control is labeled in the second experiment. When mixed and analyzed with its unlabeled counterpart for differential comparison using mass spectrometry, a characteristic inverse labeling pattern of mass shift will be observed between the two parallel analyses for proteins that are differentially expressed. In this study, protein labeling is achieved through 18O incorporation into peptides by proteolysis performed in [18O]water. Once the peptides are identified with the characteristic inverse labeling pattern of 18O/16O ion intensity shift, MS data of peptide fingerprints or peptide sequence information can be used to search a protein database for protein identification. The methodology has been applied successfully to two model systems in this study. It permits quick focus on the signals of differentially expressed proteins. It eliminates the detection ambiguities caused by the dynamic range of detection on proteins of extreme changes in expression. It enables the detection of protein modifications responding to perturbation. This strategy can also be extended to other protein-labeling methods, such as chemical or metabolic labeling, to realize the same benefits.