Site- and structure-specific quantitative N-glycoproteomics study of differential N-glycosylation in MCF-7 cancer cells.

Glycosylation is a common protein PTM, and its aberrant regulation has been widely linked to various pathological conditions including cancers. Our recent development of intact N-glycopeptide search engine GPSeeker has enabled relatively quantitative structure-specific characterization of differentially expressed intact N-glycopeptides (DEGPs) with isotopic labeling of the peptide backbones and structure-specific fragment ions of the N-glycan moieties. Here we report our site- and structure-specific relatively quantitative N-glycoproteomics study of breast MCF-7 cancer cells (relative to epithelial MCF-10A cells) using RPLC-nanoESI-MS/MS and GPSeeker. With spectrum-level FDR ≤ 1%, 581 intact N-glycopeptides with comprehensive structural information of both the peptide backbones (amino acid sequences, N-glycosites) and the N-glycan moieties (monosaccharide composition, sequence and linkages) were identified from five technical replicates (TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4 and TR5). With the criteria of quantified at least thrice out of the five technical replicates with no <1.5-fold change, p ≤ .05 and RSD ≤ 20%, 56 DEGPs were quantified from 23 N-glycosites on 19 intact N-glycoproteins. For the 19 intact N-glycoproteins observed with differential N-glycosylation expression, 14 (each with one or more DEGPs) were observed with uniform down regulation; 6 (each with one or more DEGPs) were observed with uniform up regulation; whereas one was observed with both up and down regulation. SIGNIFICANCE: Differential N-glycosylation in breast MCF-7 cancer cells (relative to MCF-10A epithelial cells) were qualitatively and quantitatively characterized with site- and structure-specific N-glycoproteomics using RPLC-nanoESI-MS/MS (HCD with stepped NCEs) and intact N-glycopeptide search engine GPSeeker. With spectrum-level FDR ≤ 1%, 581 intact N-glycopeptides with comprehensive structural information of both the peptide backbones and the N-glycan moieties were identified; For the 248 putative N-glycosites, 248 were confirmed where 125 have not been annotated in UniProt as of July 25, 2019. For the 114 N-glycan putative linkage structures, 44 were confirmed with no less than one structure-diagnostic fragment ions. With the criteria of quantified at least thrice out of the five technical replicates with no < 1.5-fold change and p ≤ .05, 56 DEGPs were quantified from 21 intact N-glycoproteins; 13 and 5 intact N-glycoproteins (each with one or more DEGPs) were observed with uniform down and up regulation; whereas one were observed with simultaneous up and down regulation.