Novel Insight into the Etiology of Haff Disease by Mapping the N-Glycome with Orthogonal Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Consumption of boiled crayfish may lead to Haff disease (HD), which is considered to result from an unidentified toxin, although the etiology is still obscure. Profiling of the N -glycome in HD would assist in deciphering the underlying molecular mechanism of the disease, whereas HD-associated glycosylation has never been explored. Herein, we enrolled 90 serum samples with HD patients and healthy controls from the Wuhan Center for Disease Control & Prevention between 2019 and 2020. N -glycome profiles of both serum and serum-derived immunoglobulin G (IgG) in HD were characterized by means of high-throughput-based orthogonal mass spectrometry. It was observed that HD is associated with an increase in the core fucosylation and mono-galactosylation of total serum glycoproteins. The serum level of IgG was found to serve as a good indicator for HD patients. In addition, differential galactosylation and sialylation of IgG were strongly correlated with HD. It was notable that the changes in the galactosylation and sialylation of IgG1 and IgG2 were subclass specific. Interestingly, altered sialylation and galactosylation of IgG2 or IgG3/4 strongly correlated with clinical markers for HD. Our study reveals the association of differential IgG N-glycosylation with HD, providing new insight into the etiology of this rare disease.