色谱 ›› 2021, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 578-587.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2020.10005

• 专论与综述 • 上一篇    下一篇

质谱成像技术及其在乳腺癌研究中的应用

张梦婷1#, 张育露1#, 王浩江1, 李宁2, 李波1, 肖虹2, 卞伟1,*(), 蔡宗苇3   

  1. 1.山西医科大学基础医学院生物化学与分子生物学教研室, 山西 太原 030001
    2.山西医科大学第一医院病理科, 山西 太原 030001
    3.香港浸会大学化学系环境与生物分析国家重点实验室, 香港 999077
  • 收稿日期:2020-10-10 出版日期:2021-06-08 发布日期:2021-04-13
  • 通讯作者: 卞伟
  • 作者简介:* E-mail: sxykdx_bianwei@163.com.
    第一联系人:

    # 共同第一作者.

  • 基金资助:
    山西省自然科学基金(201901D111210);山西省高等学校大学生创新创业训练计划项目(2020181);山西医科大学校级博士启动基金项目(03201514);山西医科大学科技创新基金(01201312)

Mass spectrometry imaging technology and its application in breast cancer research

ZHANG Mengting1#, ZHANG Yulu1#, WANG Haojiang1, LI Ning2, LI Bo1, XIAO Hong2, BIAN Wei1,*(), CAI Zongwei3   

  1. 1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Science, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
    2. Department of Pathology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China
  • Received:2020-10-10 Online:2021-06-08 Published:2021-04-13
  • Contact: BIAN Wei
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province of China(201901D111210);Shanxi College Students’ Innovative Entrepreneurial Training Project(2020181);PhD Start-up Foundation of Shanxi Medical University(03201514);Shanxi Medical University of Science and Technology Innovation Fund(01201312)

摘要:

乳腺癌是女性最常见的恶性肿瘤,其发病率在世界范围内呈现上升趋势,是威胁女性健康的重要疾病之一。随着现代医学技术的快速发展,早期有效的诊断和筛查方法能够改善乳腺癌患者生存率和提高其生活质量。由于乳腺癌肿瘤具有非常显著的异质性,这对于诊断和筛查带来了较大困难,亟须在肿瘤演进时间信息中,继续引入生物分子的空间信息,从而对其异质性、肿瘤微环境等进行准确的追踪。质谱成像技术,可在免标记的前提下利用离子质荷比的特性发现生物组织中的各种分子,并研究这些分子的时间和空间信息,对其进行准确的定性、定量和空间定位。目前,通过质谱成像技术可直接获取药物及其代谢物、内源性代谢物、脂质、多肽和蛋白质等在组织中的空间分布信息,为肿瘤分子分型诊断和确认以及相关抗肿瘤药物的筛选提供了新的思路和研究方向。该综述以乳腺癌相关的生物样品制备和研究进展为主要内容,从小分子样本、大分子样本、石蜡包埋样本、基质喷涂方式、常用离子源等方面阐述质谱成像中样本制备的重要性以及样品制备过程中存在的难点问题。同时,以细胞模型、动物模型和临床肿瘤标本为研究对象,汇总了质谱成像技术在乳腺癌方面的应用进展,并进行了展望,为开展癌症精准分型研究和药物药效的快速筛查提供了重要依据。

关键词: 质谱成像技术, 样品前处理, 乳腺癌

Abstract:

The incidence of breast cancer, one of the most common malignancies affecting women, is increasing significantly worldwide. Given the rapid development of medical technology, early and effective diagnostic methods should be able to improve the survival rate and quality of life of patients suffering from disease. However, although existing treatment options, including chemotherapy and endocrine therapies, have greatly improved the survival of patients, disease recurrence in the long term remains a challenge. Because breast cancer is a heterogeneous and complex disease, which includes several subtypes with different responses to treatment, the continual acquisition of spatial information on related biomolecules is important for accurate tracking of the tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment. At present, prognostic and predictive biomarkers, such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), estrogen receptor (ER), Ki-67, progesterone receptor (PR), and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), are validated for use in the decision-making over breast cancer therapies. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a useful technique for acquiring molecular information about biological tissues, including qualitative, quantitative, and spatial distribution information, because it is based on the ion mass-to-charge ratio of the biomolecules and avoids the need for their labeling and staining. MSI can also acquire molecular information on drugs and their metabolites, as well as that on molecules related to endogenous metabolism, such as lipids, peptides, and proteins. Of the various ion sources available for MSI, the most popular are matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and desorption electrospray ionization, and modifications or derivatives of these sources are still emerging. MSI-based techniques provide new ideas and directions for the molecular typing of tumors, as well as knowledge on the metabolism of related antitumor drugs.
The process of MSI analysis generally involves tissue acquisition, section preparation, mass spectrometry ionization, map acquisition, and data analysis, with the most crucial step being sample handling to preserve the original chemical and location information of the analytes. The sample preparation steps are sample collection, storage, and slicing, tissue pretreatment, and matrix spraying. This review focuses mainly on the preparation of biological specimens for MSI analysis and the recent progress made in breast cancer research with this technology. With regard to sample preparation, four aspects are discussed: small-molecule samples, macromolecular samples, paraffin-embedded samples, and matrix spraying methods. To solve the difficulties associated with small-molecule sample processing, including the low extraction efficiency for certain lipids and matrix interference in the low-molecular-weight region, the addition of a cationic reagent to the extractant, the use of a new matrix, and tissue derivatization have been used. In the review of macromolecular sample processing, several different washing protocols are summarized. With regard to paraffin-embedded samples, the solutions to several common problems are reviewed. Additionally, the application of MSI to three models associated with breast cancer research is discussed, viz. cell models, animal models, and clinical tumor samples. For these models, MSI technology is used to evaluate the penetration and metabolism of antitumor agents in breast cancer, which can better reflect the malignant transformation of cells and changes in the microenvironment. With regard to lipid molecules, the use of MSI to study differences in their spatial distribution may provide a better understanding of the relationship between lipid metabolism and cancer. This review also provides important information for accurate molecular typing and drug screening in cancer research. Analytically, the tissue preparation method, tissue storage conditions, instrumentation choice, and experimental parameters have all been associated with variability in the imaging and mass-spectral qualities of MSI, thereby affecting the performance of the method. Large-scale studies using diverse sample cohorts are therefore needed to properly evaluate the robustness of MSI molecular markers and workflows for the clinical diagnosis and characterization of breast cancer variants. Our review provides strong evidence that MSI is a reliable, highly reproducible, and rapid technique for the diagnosis of breast cancer biopsies and may be useful in clinical application.

Key words: mass spectrometry imaging technology, sample preparation, breast cancer

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