Capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry: Recent trends in clinical proteomics

The increasing attention now paid to the elucidation of human proteome strengthened the development of analytical instruments able to provide reliable proteins and peptides quantitation and characterization in biological fluids and tissues. Emerging from proteomics, clinical proteomics exclusively considers its biomedical applications. It evaluates, often by high-throughput comparative platforms, the protein and peptide variations in body fluids, cells and tissues under different physiological and pathological conditions with the aim of discovering disease biomarkers. Among the available analytical methodologies, mass spectrometry in coupling with liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis demonstrated to be the eligible technique for protein detection and identification. This review summarizes the most recent applications of capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry to clinical proteomics, focusing on capillary zone electrophoresis separation mode and ESI and MALDI ionizations, which are the most frequently applied capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry hyphenated techniques.