Differentiation and Quantitation of Coeluting Isomeric Amadori and Heyns Peptides Using Sugar-Specific Fragment Ion Ratios.

d-glucose and d-fructose present in blood, tissues, and organs of all mammals can react with amino groups, leading to glucated (Amadori) and fructated (Heyns) products, i.e., proteins glycated at lysine residues. While typically present at low concentration in humans, metabolic diseases including diabetes elevate sugar levels, favoring glycation and consecutive reactions leading to advanced glycation end products (AGEs) linked to diabetic complications and cardiovascular diseases. Analytical methods able to differentiate and to individually quantify Amadori- and Heyns-modified proteins in complex sample mixtures, e.g., serum, are still very limited. Here, we show that the reported and supposedly specific neutral losses displayed in tandem mass spectra of Heyns peptides cannot be used for a reliable differentiation as they were also observed for Amadori peptides. However, the combination of several neutral loss signals in fragment ion ratios at both precursor and fragment ion signals allowed the differentiation and relative quantitation of coeluting isomeric Amadori and Heyns peptides at different concentrations and peptide ratios. This was also true for digested human plasma. Thus, the presented strategy allows the quantitation of Amadori and Heyns peptides in complex samples, especially by spiking isotope-labeled peptides. This will allow searching for glucated and fructated biomarkers in clinical samples.