Explore the vast range of titles available.

There is worldwide interest in newborn screening for lysosomal storage diseases because of the development of treatment options that give better results when carried out early in life. Screens with high differentiation between affected and nonaffected individuals are critical because of the large number of potential false positives. This review summarizes 3 screening methods: (a) direct assay of enzymatic activities using tandem mass spectrometry or fluorometry, (b) immunocapture-based measurement of lysosomal enzyme abundance, and (c) measurement of biomarkers. Assay performance is compared on the basis of small-scale studies as well as on large-scale pilot studies of mass spectrometric and fluorometric screens. Tandem mass spectrometry and fluorometry techniques for direct assay of lysosomal enzymatic activity in dried blood spots have emerged as the most studied approaches. Comparative mass spectrometry vs fluorometry studies show that the former better differentiates between nonaffected vs affected individuals. This in turn leads to a manageable number of screen positives that can be further evaluated with second-tier methods.

We expanded the use of tandem mass spectrometry combined with liquid chromatography (LC-MS/MS) for multiplex newborn screening of seven lysosomal enzymes in dried blood spots (DBS). The new assays are for enzymes responsible for the mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS-I, -II, -IIIB, -IVA, -VI, and -VII) and type 2 neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (LINCL). New substrates were prepared and characterized for tripeptidyl peptidase 1 (TPP1), α- -acetylglucosaminidase (NAGLU), and lysosomal β-glucuronidase (GUSB). These assays were combined with previously developed assays to provide a multiplex LC-MS/MS assay of 7 lysosomal storage diseases. Multiple reaction monitoring of ion dissociations for enzyme products and deuterium-labeled internal standards was used to quantify the enzyme activities. Deidentified DBS samples from 62 nonaffected newborns were analyzed to simultaneously determine (run time 2 min per DBS) the activities of TPP1, NAGLU, and GUSB, along with those for α-iduronidase (IDUA), iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S), -acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase (GALNS), and -acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase (ARSB). The activities measured in the 7-plex format showed assay response-to-blank-activity ratios (analytical ranges) of 102-909 that clearly separated healthy infants from affected children. The new multiplex assay provides a robust comprehensive newborn screening assay for the mucopolysaccharidoses. The method has been expanded to include additional lysosomal storage diseases.

Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by deficiency in arylsulfatase A activity, leading to accumulation of sulfatide substrates. Diagnostic and monitoring procedures include demonstration of reduced arylsulfatase A activity in peripheral blood leukocytes or detection of sulfatides in urine. However, the development of a screening test is challenging because of instability of the enzyme in dried blood spots (DBS), the widespread occurrence of pseudodeficiency alleles, and the lack of available urine samples from newborn screening programs. We measured individual sulfatide profiles in DBS and dried urine spots (DUS) from MLD patients with LC-MS/MS to identify markers with the discriminatory power to differentiate affected individuals from controls. We also developed a method for converting all sulfatide molecular species into a single species, allowing quantification in positive-ion mode upon derivatization. In DBS from MLD patients, we found up to 23.2-fold and 5.1-fold differences in total sulfatide concentrations for early- and late-onset MLD, respectively, compared with controls and pseudodeficiencies. Corresponding DUS revealed up to 164-fold and 78-fold differences for early- and late-onset MLD patient samples compared with controls. The use of sulfatides converted to a single species simplified the analysis and increased detection sensitivity in positive-ion mode, providing a second option for sulfatide analysis. This study of sulfatides in DBS and DUS suggests the feasibility of the mass spectrometry method for newborn screening of MLD and sets the stage for a larger-scale newborn screening pilot study.

There is interest in newborn screening of lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) because of the availability of treatments. Pilot studies have used tandem mass spectrometry with flow injection of samples to achieve multiplex detection of enzyme products. We report a multiplexing method of 9 enzymatic assays that uses HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The assay of 9 enzymes was carried out in 1 or 2 buffers with a cassette of substrates and internal standards and 1 or 2 punches of a dried blood spot (DBS) from a newborn screening card as the source of enzymes. The pre-HPLC-MS/MS sample preparation required only 4 liquid transfers before injection into a dual-column HPLC equipped with switching valves to direct the flow to separation and column equilibration. Product-specific and internal standard-specific ion fragmentations were used for MS/MS quantification in the selected reaction monitoring mode. Analysis of blood spots from 58 random newborns and lysosomal storage disease-affected patients showed that the assay readily distinguished affected from nonaffected individuals. The time per 9-plex analysis (1.8 min) was sufficiently short to be compatible with the workflow of newborn screening laboratories. HPLC-MS/MS provides a viable alternative to flow-injection MS/MS for the quantification of lysosomal enzyme activities. It is possible to assay 9 lysosomal enzymes using 1 or 2 reaction buffers, thus minimizing the number of separate incubations necessary.

There is interest in newborn screening and diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases because of the development of treatment options that improve clinical outcome. Assays of lysosomal enzymes with high analytical range (ratio of assay response from the enzymatic reaction divided by the assay response due to nonenzymatic processes) are desirable because they are predicted to lead to a lower rate of false positives in population screening and to more accurate diagnoses. We designed new tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) assays that give the largest analytical ranges reported to date for the use of dried blood spots (DBS) for detection of mucopolysaccharidoses type II (MPS-II), MPS-IVA, and MPS-VI. For comparison, we carried out fluorometric assays of 6 lysosomal enzymes using 4-methylumbelliferyl (4MU)-substrate conjugates. The MS/MS assays for MPS-II, -IVA, and -VI displayed analytical ranges that are 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than those for the corresponding fluorometric assays. The relatively small analytical ranges of the 4MU assays are due to the intrinsic fluorescence of the 4MU substrates, which cause high background in the assay response. These highly reproducible MS/MS assays for MPS-II, -IVA, and -VI can support multiplex newborn screening of these lysosomal storage diseases. MS/MS assays of lysosomal enzymes outperform 4MU fluorometric assays in terms of analytical range. Ongoing pilot studies will allow us to gauge the impact of the increased analytical range on newborn screening performance.

Deficiency of lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) causes Wolman disease and cholesterol ester storage disease. With the recent introduction of enzyme replacement therapy to manage LAL deficiency comes the need for a reliable assay of LAL enzymatic activity that can be applied to dried blood spots (DBS). We prepared and tested a library of analogs of palmitoyl 4-methylumbelifferyl esters to find a highly active and specific substrate for LAL in DBS. The LAL assay was optimized leading to both LC-MS/MS and fluorometric assay of LAL. We tested the new assay on DBS from healthy and LAL-deficient patients. The ester formed between palmitic acid and 4-propyl-8-methyl-7-hydroxycoumarin (P-PMHC) was found to be >98% selective for LAL in DBS based on the sensitivity of its activity to the LAL-specific inactivator Lalistat-2 and the fact that the activity was close to zero using DBS from patients previously shown to be LAL-deficient. Use of P-PMHC and heavy isotope-labeled internal standard with optimized assay conditions led to an approximately 2-fold increase in the specific activity of LAL compared with the previously reported LAL assay. Patients deficient in LAL were readily distinguished from normal persons with the new LAL assay using UPLC-MS/MS or fluorometric assay platforms. The new assay can measure LAL in DBS with a single measurement compared with the previous method involving 2 assays done in parallel.

We describe an approach for the accurate quantification and concurrent sequence identification of the individual proteins within complex mixtures. The method is based on a class of new chemical reagents termed isotope-coded affinity tags (ICATs) and tandem mass spectrometry. Using this strategy, we compared protein expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using either ethanol or galactose as a carbon source. The measured differences in protein expression correlated with known yeast metabolic function under glucose-repressed conditions. The method is redundant if multiple cysteinyl residues are present, and the relative quantification is highly accurate because it is based on stable isotope dilution techniques. The ICAT approach should provide a widely applicable means to compare quantitatively global protein expression in cells and tissues.

Background: Newborn screening for deficiency in the lysosomal enzymes that cause Fabry, Gaucher, Krabbe, Niemann–Pick A/B, and Pompe diseases is warranted because treatment for these syndromes is now available or anticipated in the near feature. We describe a multiplex screening method for all five lysosomal enzymes that uses newborn-screening cards containing dried blood spots as the enzyme source. Methods: We used a cassette of substrates and internal standards to directly quantify the enzymatic activities, and tandem mass spectrometry for enzymatic product detection. Rehydrated dried blood spots were incubated with the enzyme substrates. We used liquid-liquid extraction followed by solid-phase extraction with silica gel to remove buffer components. Acarbose served as inhibitor of an interfering acid α-glucosidase present in neutrophils, which allowed the lysosomal enzyme implicated in Pompe disease to be selectively analyzed. Results: We analyzed dried blood spots from 5 patients with Gaucher, 5 with Niemann–Pick A/B, 11 with Pompe, 5 with Fabry, and 12 with Krabbe disease, and in all cases the enzyme activities were below the minimum activities measured in a collection of heterozygous carriers and healthy noncarrier individuals. The enzyme activities measured in 5–9 heterozygous carriers were approximately one-half those measured with 15–32 healthy individuals, but there was partial overlap of each condition between the data sets for carriers and healthy individuals. Conclusion: For all five diseases, the affected individuals were detected. The assay can be readily automated, and the anticipated reagent and supply costs are well within the budget limits of newborn-screening centers.

Summary Tandem mass spectrometry is currently used in newborn screening programmes to quantify the level of amino acids and acylcarnitines in dried blood spots for detection of metabolites associated with treatable diseases. We have developed assays for lysosomal enzymes in rehydrated dried blood spots in which a set of substrates is added and the set of corresponding enzymatic products are quantified using tandem mass spectrometry with the aid of mass‐differentiated internal standards. We have developed a multiplex assay of the set of enzymes that, when deficient, cause the lysosomal storage disorders Fabry, Gaucher, Hurler, Krabbe, Niemann–Pick A/B and Pompe diseases. These diseases were selected because treatments are now available or expected to emerge shortly. The discovery that acarbose is a selective inhibitor of maltase glucoamylase allows the Pompe disease enzyme, acid α‐glucosidase, to be selectively assayed in white blood cells and dried blood spots. When tested with dried blood spots from 40 unaffected individuals and 10–12 individuals with the lysosomal storage disorder, the tandem mass spectrometry assay led to the correct identification of the affected individuals with 100% sensitivity. Many of the reagents needed for the new assays are commercially available, and those that are not are being prepared under Good Manufacturing Procedures for approval by the FDA. Our newborn screening assay for Krabbe disease is currently being put in place at the Wadsworth Center in New York State for the analysis of ∼1000 dried blood spots per day. Summary We have developed tandem mass spectrometry for the direct assay of lysosomal enzymes in rehydrated dried blood spots that can be implemented for newborn screening of lysosomal storage disorders. Several enzymes can be analysed by a single method (multiplex analysis) and in a high‐throughput manner appropriate for newborn screening laboratories.

Background: Treatments now available for mucopolysaccharidosis I require early detection for optimum therapy. Therefore, we have developed an assay appropriate for newborn screening of the activity of the relevant enzyme, α-L-iduronidase. Methods: We synthesized a new α-L-iduronidase substrate that can be used to assay the enzyme by use of tandem mass spectrometry together with an internal standard or by fluorometry. The assay uses a dried blood spot on a newborn screening card as the enzyme source. The assay protocol uses a simple liquid-liquid extraction step before mass spectrometry. We optimized enzyme reaction conditions and procedures for the assay, including the concentration of substrate, the reaction pH, the incubation time, and mass spectrometer operation. We also assessed inter- and intraassay imprecision. Results: When the assay was tested on dried blood spots, the α-L-iduronidase activity measured for 5 patients with mucopolysaccharidosis I was well below the interval found for 10 randomly chosen newborns. Inter- and intraassay imprecision were <10%. The synthesis of the α-L-iduronidase substrate is practical for use on a scale needed to support newborn screening demands. Conclusions: This newly developed tandem mass spectrometry assay has the potential to be adopted for newborn screening of mucopolysaccharidosis I. This assay has advantages over a previously reported assay also developed in this laboratory and has the potential to be performed in a multiplex fashion to measure several lysosomal enzymes relevant to treatable lysosomal storage diseases.