Materials Science Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Mass Spectrom Rev. 2022 Sep;41(5):842-860. doi: 10.1002/mas.21691. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
The lacrimal film has attracted increasing interest in the last decades as a potential source of biomarkers of physiopathological states, due to its accessibility, moderate complexity, and responsiveness to ocular and systemic diseases. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has led to effective approaches to tear proteomics, despite the intrinsic limitations in sample amounts. This review focuses on the recent progress in strategy and technology, with an emphasis on the potential for personalized medicine. After an introduction on lacrimal-film composition, examples of applications to biomarker discovery are discussed, comparing approaches based on pooled-sample and single-tear analysis. Then, the most critical steps of the experimental pipeline, that is, tear collection, sample fractionation, and LC-MS implementation, are discussed with reference to proteome-coverage optimization. Advantages and challenges of the alternative procedures are highlighted. Despite the still limited number of studies, tear quantitative proteomics, including single-tear investigation, could offer unique contributions to the identification of low-invasiveness, sustained-accessibility biomarkers, and to the development of personalized approaches to therapy and diagnosis.
在过去几十年中，由于其易于获取、适度复杂且对眼部和全身疾病敏感，泪膜作为生理病理状态生物标志物的潜在来源引起了越来越多的关注。尽管在样本量方面存在内在限制，但高效液相色谱-质谱联用 (LC-MS) 已为泪液蛋白质组学提供了有效的方法。本综述重点介绍了策略和技术的最新进展，强调了个性化医疗的潜力。在介绍了泪膜的组成之后，讨论了应用于生物标志物发现的示例，比较了基于混合样本和单泪分析的方法。然后，参考蛋白质组覆盖优化，讨论了实验管道中最关键的步骤，即泪液采集、样品分级和 LC-MS 实施。突出了替代程序的优缺点。尽管研究数量仍然有限，但包括单泪研究在内的泪液定量蛋白质组学可能为识别低侵入性、可持续获得的生物标志物以及开发个性化治疗和诊断方法做出独特贡献。
