Identification of Peptides and Proteins in Illegally Distributed Products by MALDI-TOF-MS

An analytical strategy based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) for identification of peptides and proteins in illegally distributed products is presented. The identified compounds include human growth hormone (hGH), human somatoliberin, anti-obesity drug (AOD), growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRP-2 and GHRP-6), Glycine-GHRP-2 and Glycine-GHRP-6, ipamorelin, insulin aspart and porcine, delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), thymosin β4, insulin like growth factor (IGF), mechano growth factor (MGF), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), melanotan II, bremelanotide, dermorphin and body protecting compound (BPC 157). The identification of proteins was mainly based on peptide mass fingerprinting, i.e., bottom up approach, while the smaller peptides were identified through de-novo sequencing. In cases when a reference standard was available, complementary identification was performed by capillary electrophoresis in double-injection mode (DICE), where a suspicious product was compared with the reference standard through two consecutive injections within the same electrophoretic run.