Open Access
ARTICLE
A UHPLC/MS/MS Assay Based on an Isotope-Labeled Peptide for Sensitive miR-21 Detection in HCC Serum
Xinyue Wang1,#, Jing Xu1,#, Qihong Gu1, Dingxuan Tang1, Huoyan Ji2, Shaoqing Ju2, Feng Wang2,*, Lin Chen3, Ruoyu Yuan2,*
1
Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Public Health, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
2
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China
3
Department of Hepatology Laboratory, Nantong Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Nantong, 226006, China
* Corresponding Authors: Feng Wang. Email: ; Ruoyu Yuan. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work.
Oncologie 2022, 24(3), 513-526. https://doi.org/10.32604/oncologie.2022.024373
Received 29 May 2022; Accepted 17 August 2022; Issue published 19 September 2022
Abstract
Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as promising novel biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and
prognosis, especially for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nowadays, the expression level of miR-21 in serum
samples is a diagnostic indicator for HCC diagnosis. Thus, the quantitative determination of miRNA concentration is of significance in clinical practice. It is particularly important to establish an analytical detection method
for miR-21 in patient serum.
Methods: The signal readout for miR-21 was based on the mass response of a reporter peptide using an isotope dilution mass spectrometry (MS) method in this work. To be more specific, miR-21
was biotinylated before being coupled with streptavidin (SA) agarose and then hybridized with a newly synthesized DNA-peptide probe. The release and purification of the sample was based on the method including trypsin
digestion, solid-phase extraction, and drying, and the detection of the reporter peptide was carried out by
UHPLC/MS/MS. The miR-21 in the corresponding samples was quantified by the ratio of the chromatographic
peak area of the redissolved polypeptide to that of the isotope-labeled polypeptide. Additionally, within the calibration range, the performance of the method (including precision, accuracy, linearity, and recovery) was evaluated.
Results: The concentration of miR-21 was determined using the ratio of relative peak area of stable
isotope-labeled internal standard and reporter peptide, yielding a linear range of 0.1∼30.0 nM (y = 0.0818x +
0.7554, R
2 = 0.9586,
P < 0.01). The limit of detection (LOD) for miR-21 was 10 pM. For y
5
, the recoveries
(n = 3) were 91.36 ± 2.19%, 93.64 ± 3.55%, and 96.04 ± 2.02% for the levels of three miR-21 samples including
RL, RM, and RH, respectively.
Conclusions: Overall, this research provides a novel analytical approach for quantitative detection of miRNAs in clinical serum samples.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Wang, X., Xu, J., Gu, Q., Tang, D., Ji, H. et al. (2022). A UHPLC/MS/MS Assay Based on an Isotope-Labeled Peptide for Sensitive miR-21 Detection in HCC Serum.
Oncologie, 24(3), 513–526.