Water-stable hydrophilic metal organic framework composite for the recognition of N-glycopeptides during diabetes progression by mass spectrometry

A hydrophilic Al-MOFs composite was prepared using cheap and available reagents in water via a suitable large-scale production, an economical and environment-friendly method for capturing N-glycopeptides. The prepared Al-MOFs composite with high hydrolytically stable and hydrophilic 1D channels exhibits an ultralow detection limit (0.5 fmol/μL), and excellent reusability (at least 10 cycles) in the capture of N-glycopeptides from standard bio-samples. Interestingly, the Al-MOFs composite also shows remarkable performance in practical applications, where 300 N-glycopeptides ascribed to 124 glycoproteins were identified in 1 µL human serum and were successfully applied in profiling the differences of N-glycopeptides during diabetes progression. Moreover, 12 specific glycoproteins used as biomarkers to accurately distinguish the progression of diabetes are identified. The present work provides a potential commercial method for large-scale glycoproteomics research in complex clinical samples while offering new guidance for the precise diagnosis of diabetes progression. Graphical Abstract