Impact of Biological Matrix on Inflammatory Protein Biomarker Quantification Based on Targeted Mass Spectrometry

Abstarct

Background: Serum and plasma are widely used matrices in biological and clinical studies. To improve reliability and consistency of markers quantification, the influence of these matrices on proteins was evaluated by targeted mass spectrometry. Results: 65 proteins were quantified in matched blood samples collected in serum, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and heparin plasma tubes from 40 healthy and 10 pathological individuals. Only 52% of the proteins were not impacted by any of the biological matrices tested, and the effects on quantification of proteins affected was matrix and protein dependent. Conclusion: Matrix comparisons using mass spectrometry is therefore recommended to assess the relevance of using surrogate matrix, performing biomarker discovery study or evaluating the clinical use of biomarkers in large clinical cohorts.

Keywords:

• biological matrix
• clinical chemistry
• inflammatory biomarkers
• mass spectrometry
• plasma
• proteomics
• serum

Acknowledgements

The authors thank S Kirsch (Thermo Fisher Scientific) for proofreading the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflicts with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership and options, expert testimony, grants and patents received or pending, and royalties.

No writing assistance was used in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval and have followed the principles outlined in the Helsinki Declaration on all human and animal experimental investigations. In addition, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved in the investigations involving human subjects.

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2144/000112170