Clinical perspectives of dried blood spot protein quantification using mass spectrometry methods

Abstract

Although dried blood spot (DBS) sampling methods have been used since the 1960s, they have recently attracted renewed interest because of the development of new clinical applications. In addition to their other advantages, DBS methods can now be used to quantify many blood proteins using the latest highly sensitive and robust, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approaches such as multiple reaction monitoring. The DBS blood sampling approach could provide a useful alternative means of conducting blood sampling for routine clinical purposes and patients’ follow-up. In this review, we examine the current use of DBS for LC-MS/MS protein quantification in clinical settings and discuss potential clinical applications.

Keywords:

• Dried blood spots
• pre-analytical
• mass spectrometry
• multiple reaction monitoring

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to specially thank Jessica Blanc for revising the manuscript. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.