N-glycan Profiling of Glycoproteins by Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence and Mass Spectrometric Detection

Glycosylation is a vital modification found in proteins. N-glycan profiling of glycoproteins is required to detect novel biomarker candidates and determine glycan alterations in diseases. Most commercially available biopharmaceutical proteins are glycoproteins. The efficacy of these drugs is affected by glycosylation patterns. Therefore, an in-depth characterization method for the N-glycans is necessary. Here, we present a comprehensive approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis of N-glycans using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection and tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-FLD-MS/MS). N-glycans were released from glycoproteins with a facile method and labeled by a procainamide fluorophore tag in the strategy. Subsequently, the procainamide labeled N-glycans were analyzed by a HILIC-FLD-MS/MS technique. In this approach, N-glycan structures were confirmed by the tandem mass spectrometric analysis, whereas fluorescence detection was used for the quantitative analysis. An application for data analysis of the detected N-glycan peaks is described in the study. This protocol can be applied to any glycoprotein extracted from various species.