Applications of mass spectrometry in clinical chemistry and biomedical research

Note:Clinical chemistry is a medical discipline whose aim is to diagnose and assess disease by analysis of biological specimens. Modem laboratories can perform several hundred different tests using many different methods developed over the last century. The classical, more traditional assays are typically labour-intensive, not multiplexed (only measure one analyte or disorder per assay), expensive, require a long turnaround time, and may not provide adequate sensitivity and specificity. Developments in mass spectrometry (MS) and related technologies over the last two decades have provided solutions for many if not all of these shortcomings. While MS based applications have not yet been widely implemented in clinical chemistry laboratories, current developments will encourage the replacement of traditional methods as well as the expansion of clinically diagnostic endpoints. Indeed, modem MS can be used to simultaneously analyze and quantitate multiple biomarkers in a single analysis. Currently, no other technique exists that can provide a comparable multiplexed analysis. In this thesis, current MS and related technologies were developed and applied to several important but distinct clinical chemistry applications. [...]La chimie clinique est une discipline medicale qui a pour but de diagnostiquer la presence et la progression d'une maladie par l'analyse d'echantillons biologiques. Les laboratoires modemes peuvent executer des centaines d'analyses en utilisant plusieurs methodes developpees au courrant des cent demieres annees. Les essaisc1assiques, et plus traditionnels, sont souvent laborieux, non multiplexe (mesurent seulement un analyte par essai), cher, exige un long temps de rotation et risque de ne pas fournir une specificite adequate. Pendant les deux dernieres decennies, les developpements dans Ie domaine de la spectrometrie de masse (MS) et les technologies rattachees ont foumi des solutions a plusieurs, pour ne pas dire tous, manques retrouves dans les methodes d'analyse traditionnelles