Advances in Mass Spectrometry of Gangliosides Expressed in Brain Cancers

Scientific paper - Review paper

• Author: Maria Roxana Biricioiu
• Author: Mirela Sarbu
• Author: Raluca Ica
• Author: Željka Vukelić
• Author: Svjetlana Kalanj-Bognar
• Author: Alina D. Zamfir
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; School of Medicine; (Department of Medical Chemistry, Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE; Basic Medical Sciences

Abstract (english)

Gangliosides are highly abundant in the human brain where they are involved in major biological events. In brain cancers, alterations of ganglioside pattern occur, some of which being correlated with neoplastic transformation, while others with tumor proliferation. Of all techniques, mass spectrometry (MS) has proven to be one of the most effective in gangliosidomics, due to its ability to characterize heterogeneous mixtures and discover species with biomarker value. This review highlights the most significant achievements of MS in the analysis of gangliosides in human brain cancers. The first part presents the latest state of MS development in the discovery of ganglioside markers in primary brain tumors, with a particular emphasis on the ion mobility separation (IMS) MS and its contribution to the elucidation of the gangliosidome associated with aggressive tumors. The second part is focused on MS of gangliosides in brain metastases, highlighting the ability of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-MS, microfluidics-MS and tandem MS to decipher and structurally characterize species involved in the metastatic process. In the end, several conclusions and perspectives are presented, among which the need for development of reliable software and a user-friendly structural database as a search platform in brain tumor diagnostics.

• Keywords (english): Brain; Brain Neoplasms; Gangliosides / chemistry; Humans; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods; Tandem Mass Spectrometry
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Review paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Numbering: vol. 25, no. 2, 1335
• e-ISSN: 1422-0067
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25021335
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:105:416331
• Publication: 2024-01-22
• Document URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/2/1335
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2024-12-03 08:34:57