Ultrasonic-assisted extraction and digestion of proteins from solid biopsies followed by peptide sequential extraction hyphenated to MALDI-based profiling holds the promise of distinguishing renal oncocytoma from chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

Applications of Mass Spectrometry in the Characterization, Screening, Diagnosis, and Prognosis of COVID-19

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical technique that plays a central role in modern protein analysis and the study of proteostasis. In the field of advanced molecular technologies, MS-based proteomics has become a cornerstone that is making a significant impact in the post-genomic era and as precision medicine moves from the research laboratory to clinical practice. The global dissemination of COVID-19 has spurred collective efforts to develop effective diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutic interventions. This chapter highlights how MS seamlessly integrates with established methods such as RT-PCR and ELISA to improve viral identification and disease progression assessment. In particular, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) takes the center stage, unraveling intricate details of SARS-CoV-2 proteins, revealing modifications such as glycosylation, and providing insights critical to formulating therapies and assessing prognosis. However, high-throughput analysis of MALDI data presents challenges in manual interpretation, which has driven the development of programmatic pipelines and specialized packages such as MALDIquant. As we move forward, it becomes clear that integrating proteomic data with various omic findings is an effective strategy to gain a comprehensive understanding of the intricate biology of COVID-19 and ultimately develop targeted therapeutic paradigms.

A rapid and convenient enzyme digestion method for the analysis of N-glycans using exoglycosidase-impregnated polyacrylamide gels fabricated in an automatic pipette tip

Efficient enzymatic digestion methods are critical for the characterization and identification of glycans. Glycan hydrolysis enzymes are widely utilized for the identification of glycoprotein or glycolipid glycans. The commonly utilized in solution glycan hydrolysis methods require several hours of incubation with enzymes for complete removal of their target monosaccharides. To develop an efficient and simple method for the rapid release of monosaccharides from glycoprotein glycans, we fabricated exoglycosidase-impregnated acrylamide gels in an automatic pipette tip. Our automated enzymatic reactors are based on the simple photochemical copolymerization of monomers comprising acrylamide and methylene-bis-acrylamide-containing enzymes with an azobis compound functioning as the photocatalytic initiator. After filling the tip of the automatic pipette with these acrylamide solutions, polymerization of the acrylamide gel solution was performed by irradiation with a LED. The immobilized enzymes maintained their activities in the pipette tips and their action was completed by fully automatic pipetting for 10 to 30 min. We utilized 8-aminopyrene-1, 3, 6-trisulfonic acid (APTS)-labeled glycans as a substrate and measured by capillary electrophoresis (CE) before and after enzymatic digestion. We demonstrated that this method exhibited quantitative enzymatic and specific cleavage of monosaccharides from glycoprotein glycans.

Nanomedicine for renal cell carcinoma: imaging, treatment and beyond

The kidney is a vital organ responsible for maintaining homeostasis in the human body. However, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common malignancy of the urinary system and represents a serious threat to human health. Although the overall survival of RCC has improved substantially with the development of cancer diagnosis and management, there are various reasons for treatment failure. Firstly, without any readily available biomarkers, timely diagnosis has been greatly hampered. Secondly, the imaging appearance also varies greatly, and its early detection often remains difficult. Thirdly, chemotherapy has been validated as unavailable for treating renal cancer in the clinic due to its intrinsic drug resistance. Concomitant with the progress of nanotechnological methods in pharmaceuticals, the management of kidney cancer has undergone a transformation in the recent decade. Nanotechnology has shown many advantages over widely used traditional methods, leading to broad biomedical applications ranging from drug delivery, prevention, diagnosis to treatment. This review focuses on nanotechnologies in RCC management and further discusses their biomedical translation with the aim of identifying the most promising nanomedicines for clinical needs. As our understanding of nanotechnologies continues to grow, more opportunities to improve the management of renal cancer are expected to emerge.

Extraction and Identification of Three New Urechis unicinctus Visceral Peptides and Their Antioxidant Activity

The viscera of Urechis unicinctus with polypeptides, fatty acids, and amino acids are usually discarded during processing to food. In order to improve the utilization value of the viscera of Urechis unicinctus and avoid resource waste, antioxidant polypeptides were isolated from the viscera of Urechis unicinctus. First, a protein hydrolysate of Urechis unicinctus (UUPH) was prepared by ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis, and the degree of hydrolysis was as high as 79.32%. Subsequently, three new antioxidant peptides (P1, P2, and P3) were purified from UUPH using ultrafiltration and chromatography, and their amino acid sequences were identified as VTSALVGPR, IGLGDEGLRR, TKIRNEISDLNER, respectively. Then, the antioxidant activity of the polypeptide was predicted by the structure-activity relationship and finally verified by experiments on eukaryotic cells. The P1 peptide exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity among these three antioxidant peptides. Furthermore, P1, P2, and P3 have no toxic effect on RAW264.7 cells at the concentration of 0.01~2 mg/mL and can protect RAW264.7 cells from H2O2-induced oxidative damage in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggested that these three new antioxidant peptides were isolated from the viscera of Urechis unicinctus, especially the P1 peptide, which might serve as potential antioxidants applied in health-derived food or beverages. This study further developed a new use of the by-product of Urechis unicinctus, which improved the comprehensive utilization of marine biological resources.

MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging-Prognostic Pathways and Metabolites for Renal Cell Carcinomas

Simple Summary

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the seventh most common cancer type and accounts for more than 80% of all renal tumors. Nevertheless, prognostic biomarkers for RCC are still missing. Therefore, we analyzed a large, multicenter cohort including the three most common RCC subtypes (clear cell RCC (ccRCC), papillary RCC (pRCC) and chromophobe RCC (chRCC)) by high mass resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) for prognostic biomarker detection. This is a suitable method for biomarker detection for several tumor entities. We detected several pathways and metabolites with prognostic power for RCC in general and also for different RCC subtypes.

Abstract

High mass resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a suitable method for biomarker detection for several tumor entities. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the seventh most common cancer type and accounts for more than 80% of all renal tumors. Prognostic biomarkers for RCC are still missing. Therefore, we analyzed a large, multicenter cohort including the three most common RCC subtypes (clear cell RCC (ccRCC), papillary RCC (pRCC) and chromophobe RCC (chRCC)) by MALDI for prognostic biomarker detection. MALDI-Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR)-MSI analysis was performed for renal carcinoma tissue sections from 782 patients. SPACiAL pipeline was integrated for automated co-registration of histological and molecular features. Kaplan–Meier analyses with overall survival as endpoint were executed to determine the metabolic features associated with clinical outcome. We detected several pathways and metabolites with prognostic power for RCC in general and also for different RCC subtypes.

Wavelet Transform-Based Ultrasound Image Enhancement Algorithm for Guided Gynecological Laparoscopy Imaging of Local Anesthetics in Perioperative Gynecological Laparoscopy

This paper aimed to study the application of local anesthetics combined with transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block in gynecological laparoscopy (GLS) surgery during perioperative period under the guidance of ultrasound image enhanced by the wavelet transform image enhancement (WTIE) algorithm. 56 patients who underwent GLS surgery in hospital were selected and classified as the infiltrating group and block group. The puncture needle was guided by ultrasound images under WTIE algorithm, and 0.375% ropivacaine was adopted to block TAP. The results showed that the dosage of propofol in the infiltrating group (313.23 ± 19.67 mg) was remarkably inferior to the infiltrating group (377.67 ± 21.56 mg) (P < 0.05). The hospitalization time of patients in the infiltrating group (2.14 ± 0.18 days) was obviously shorter than that of the infiltrating group (3.23 ± 0.27 days) (P < 0.05). 3 h, 6 h, and 12 h after the operation, the visual analogue scores (3.82 ± 1.58 points, 2.97 ± 1.53 points, and 1.38 ± 0.57 points) of the patients in the infiltration group were considerably higher than the infiltrating group (2.31 ± 1.46 points, 1.06 ± 1.28 points, and 0.95 ± 0.43 points) (P < 0.05). 3 h, 6 h, and 12 h after the operation, the number of patients in the infiltrating group who used tramadol for salvage analgesia (2 cases, 1 case, and 1 case) was notably less than that in the infiltration group (9 cases, 7 cases, and 3 cases) (P < 0.05). In short, local anesthetics combined with TAP block can reduce postoperative VAS score and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) score, which also reduced the incidence of postoperative analgesia.