Serum peptidome for cancer detection: spinning biologic trash into diagnostic gold
J. Clin. Invest. Lance A. Liotta, et al. 116:26 doi:10.1172/JCI27467 [Go to this article.]

Figure 2
Immuno-MS provides a means for rapidly determining the specific size and identity of each member of a panel of peptide marker fragments present within patient sera. As part of a high-throughput assay performed in clinical diagnostic laboratories, patient serum would be applied to a multiplexed plate of microcolumns filled with antibody-immobilized beads. Each microcolumn captures both the parental and fragment isoforms of the candidate marker since they both contain the antibody recognition site. The captured population of analytes, including the fragment(s) with potential for disease detection and/or discrimination, are eluted and analyzed directly by MALDI-TOF MS. The presence of the specific peptide biomarker at its precise mass/charge ratio (m/z) would be used as a diagnostic test result. This analysis could be performed rapidly by simple software that determines if the ion peak is present or absent at the predefined m/z location.