Profiling of amines in biological samples using polythioester-functionalized magnetic nanoprobe

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Metabolic amine balance is crucial for human health.
• Analyzing amines with high-throughput and high-coverage presents significant challenges.
• Existing methods lack the sensitivity and efficiency required for comprehensive amine profiling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel polythioester-functionalized magnetic nanoprobes (PMPs) for enhanced amine capture.
• To improve the sensitivity and efficiency of mass spectrometry-based amine detection.
• To apply PMPs for high-throughput analysis of amines in biological samples for disease diagnostics.

Main Methods:

• Preparation of polythioester-functionalized magnetic nanoprobes (PMPs) under mild conditions.
• Utilizing PMPs for chemoselective capture of amides, enhancing capture efficiency.
• Applying PMPs in mass spectrometry for sensitive and high-throughput detection of amines.

Main Results:

• PMPs demonstrated significantly increased capture efficiency due to the polythioester introduction.
• The PMPs method enabled rapid detection of over 100 amines in lung cancer cell lines, mouse tissues, and human serum.
• Statistical analysis revealed differences in arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis between sample types.

Conclusions:

• PMPs offer powerful capture ability, low-cost preparation, and convenient separation for amine analysis.
• The developed method shows high diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing between healthy subjects, benign lung disease, and lung cancer.
• PMPs show promising applications in intensive metabolic pathway studies and early disease diagnosis.