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Fast‐atom Bombardment Mass Spectrometry for Mapping of Endogenous Methylated Purine Bases in Urine Extracts
Author(s) -
Porcelli Brunetta,
Muraca Lucia Filomena,
Frosi Barbara,
Marinello Enrico,
Vernillo Remo,
De Martino Antonio,
Catinella Silvia,
Traldi Pietro
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0231(19970228)11:4<398::aid-rcm807>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - chemistry , urine , purine , fast atom bombardment , mass spectrometry , urinary system , nucleic acid , chromatography , endogeny , tandem mass spectrometry , purine metabolism , biochemistry , medicine , enzyme
Fast‐atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry, linked with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), was employed for the identification of methylated purine bases in four urinary extracts of healthy subjects and fourteen urinary extracts of patients bearing colorectal tumors. In order to obtain an easy structural identification of the species present in urinary extracts, the MS/MS spectra of MH + species of twenty nine diagnostically relevant purine bases were studied. Even if definitive quantitative data cannot be obtained by this approach, FAB mass spectra of urine extracts lead to a readily reproducible mapping of endogenous purine bases, allowing a distinction between healthy and sick subjects. Bases such as 9‐ethyladenine, N 6 ‐2‐isopentenyladenine and N 6 ‐benzyladenine were detected only in urine samples of colorectal tumor bearing patients. The detection in urine of compounds such as 7‐methylguanine and 1‐methylguanine, and their increase in the urine of colorectal tumor bearing patients, has been justified either by a more rapid turnover of nucleic acids in tumor tissue or by an increase in the extent of their methylation. The obtained results indicate that the method can be employed for diagnostic purposes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.