Ultra-High-Resolution IonStar Strategy Enhancing Accuracy and Precision of MS1-Based Proteomics and an Extensive Comparison with State-of-the-Art SWATH-MS in Large-Cohort Quantification

Quantitative proteomics in large cohorts is highly valuable for clinical/pharmaceutical investigations but often suffers from severely compromised reliability, accuracy, and reproducibility. Here, we describe an ultra-high-resolution IonStar method achieving reproducible protein measurement in large cohorts while minimizing the ratio compression problem, by taking advantage of the exceptional selectivity of ultra-high-resolution (UHR)-MS1 detection (240k_FWHM@m/z = 200). Using mixed-proteome benchmark sets reflecting large-cohort analysis with technical or biological replicates (N = 56), we comprehensively compared the quantitative performances of UHR-IonStar vs a state-of-the-art SWATH-MS method, each with their own optimal analytical platforms. We confirmed a cutting-edge micro-liquid chromatography (LC)/Triple-TOF with Spectronaut outperforms nano-LC/Orbitrap for SWATH-MS, which was then meticulously developed/optimized to maximize sensitivity, reproducibility, and proteome coverage. While the two methods with distinct principles (i.e., MS1- vs MS2-based) showed similar depth-of-analysis (μ6700-7000 missing-data-free proteins quantified, 1% protein-false discovery rate (FDR) for entire set, 2 unique peptides/protein) and good accuracy/precision in quantifying high-abundance proteins, UHR-IonStar achieved substantially superior quantitative accuracy, precision, and reproducibility for lower-abundance proteins (a category that includes most regulatory proteins), as well as much-improved sensitivity/selectivity for discovering significantly altered proteins. Furthermore, compared to SWATH-MS, UHR-IonStar showed markedly higher accuracy for a single analysis of each sample across a large set, which is an inadequately investigated albeit critical parameter for large-cohort analysis. Finally, we compared UHR-IonStar vs SWATH-MS in measuring the time courses of altered proteins in paclitaxel-treated cells (N = 36), where dysregulated biological pathways have been very well established. UHR-IonStar discovered substantially more well-recognized biological processes/pathways induced by paclitaxel. Additionally, UHR-IonStar showed markedly superior ability than SWATH-MS in accurately depicting the time courses of well known to be paclitaxel-induced biomarkers. In summary, UHR-IonStar represents a reliable, robust, and cost-effective solution for large-cohort proteomic quantification with excellent accuracy and precision.