TomAP-MS: an improved tomato lectin affinity purification-based mass spectrometry workflow enabling ultra-deep plasma proteomics

Plasma proteomics is increasingly important for biomarker discovery and disease stratification; however, comprehensive and high-throughput analysis remains challenging because of the extreme dynamic range of plasma proteins. We previously established tomato lectin affinity purification-based mass spectrometry (TomAP-MS), a workflow that enhances plasma proteome coverage via tomato lectin-mediated enrichment. The initial workflow depended on a 4% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) elution, followed by SP3-based purification and digestion, which raised complexity and restricted throughput. In this study, we developed an improved TomAP-MS workflow incorporating lauryl maltose neopentyl glycol (LMNG)-assisted acid elution (LAcE), in which proteins are eluted under acidic conditions in the presence of LMNG. This process is followed by pH adjustment and direct tryptic digestion without SP3 cleanup. Compared with conventional acid elution and the original SDS/SP3 workflow, LAcE increased protein identifications while simplifying sample preparation and improving throughput. Using the optimized workflow, we identified more than 7,500 proteins from human plasma and demonstrated broader applicability in extracellular vesicle enrichment and protein interaction analysis workflows. We demonstrated that ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid plasma was the preferred specimen type, enabling the identification of over 5,000 proteins from just 1 {micro}L of plasma, with minimal impact on proteomic profiles after up to three freeze-thaw cycles. Additionally, the analysis of plasma from 200 healthy individuals reproducibly detected 4,117 proteins across all samples, including many proteins associated with inherited disorders. These findings establish TomAP-MS with LAcE as a practical platform for deep plasma proteomics, supporting its future application in proteomics-based screening and diagnostics.