Innovative SALDI mass spectrometry analysis for Alzheimer's disease synthetic peptides detection.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is nowadays the prominent cause of senile dementia. This pathology is characterized by aggregation of neurofibrillary tangles in cells and by the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain. Noteworthy, a phosphorylated protein (tau protein) and a peptide presenting two overlapping sequences of 40 or 42 residues named β-amyloid peptides 1-40 (Aβ 1-40) and 1-42 (Aβ 1-42), respectively, were related to such deleterious phenomena.

Analytical Tools for Dynamic Combinatorial Libraries of Cyclic Peptides.

Target-directed dynamic combinatorial chemistry is a very attractive strategy for the discovery of bioactive peptides. However, its application has not yet been demonstrated, presumably due to analytical challenges that arise from the diversity of a peptide library with combinatorial side-chains. We previously reported an efficient method to generate, under biocompatible conditions, large dynamic libraries of cyclic peptides grafted with amino acid's side-chains, by thiol-to-thioester exchanges.

[Pre-iliac tumor mass syndrome: An atypical rheumatoid nodule].

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a polymorphous chronic inflammatory disease that is common in general population and is responsible for the occurrence of subcutaneous or visceral rheumatoid nodules. Their typical clinical presentations and localizations do not generally pose any diagnostic or therapeutic problem. We report here an atypical fistulized presentation of an unusual iliac rheumatoid nodule in a 65-year-old female patient.

Development of nanomaterial enabling highly sensitive surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry peptide analysis.

Rationale: Surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) is an approach derived from matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-MS which overcomes the drawbacks associated with the use of organic matrices required to co-crystallize with the analytes. Indeed, nanomaterials commonly used in SALDI-MS as inert surfaces to promote desorption/ionization (D/I) ensure straightforward direct deposition of samples while providing mass spectra with ions only related to the compound of interest. The objective of this study was to develop a novel SALDI-MS approach based on steel plates that are surfaces very rapidly and easily tuned to perform the most efficient peptide detection as possible.