Quantitative characterization of glycoproteins in neurodegenerative disorders using iTRAQ

Aberrant protein glycosylation has been recognized to be associated with many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer and Parkinson disease. Using mass spectrometry-based technologies to catalog and quantify glycoproteins in these diseases is expected to provide insight into not only the biochemical pathogenesis of neurodegeneration but also the biomarker discovery. This chapter describes a multidisciplinary approach to accomplish the goal of glycoprotein identification and quantification in human brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid, which includes sample preparation, isobaric tag labeling of digested peptides, glycopeptide enrichment using hydrazide chemistry, protein/peptide identification and quantification by liquid chromatography-based high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, as well as bioinformatic data processing.