The lipid oxidation product 4-oxo-2-nonenal (ONE) derived from peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids is a highly reactive protein cross-linking reagent. The major family of cross-links reflects conjugate addition of side-chain nucleophiles such as sulfhydryl or imidazole groups to the C=C of ONE to give either a 2- or 3-substituted 4-ketoaldehyde, which then undergoes Paal-Knorr condensation with the primary amine of protein lysine side-chains. If ONE is intercepted in biological fluids by antielectrophiles such as glutathione (GSH) or β-alanylhistidine (carnosine), this would lead to circulating 4-ketoaldehydes that could then bind covalently to the protein Lys residues. This phenomenon was investigated by SDS–PAGE and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF and LC-ESI-MS/MS with both tryptic and chymotryptic digestion). Under the reaction conditions of 0.25 mM to 2 mM ONE, 1 mM GSH or carnosine, 0.25 mM bovine β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), 100 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4, 10% ethanol), 24 h, 37 °C, virtually every Lys of β-LG was found to be fractionally cross-linked to GSH. Cross-linking of Lys to carnosine was slightly less efficient. Using cytochrome c and RNase A, we showed that ONE becomes more protein-reactive in the presence of GSH, whereas protein modification by 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal is inhibited by GSH. Stable antielectrophile–ONE–protein cross-links may serve as biomarkers of oxidative stress and may represent a novel mechanism of irreversible protein glutathionylation.