Human milk oligosaccharides
(HMOs) are one of the most abundant
ingredients in breast milk, and they play a beneficial role for newborns
and are important for infant health. The peripheral fucosylated sequences
of HMOs, such as the histo-blood group ABH(O) and Lewis a, b, x, and
y antigens, are determined by the expression of the secretor (Se)
and Lewis (Le) genes in the mammary gland, and are often the recognition
motifs and serve as decoy receptors for microbes. In this work, we
developed a method for determination of secretor status and Lewis
blood phenotype and assignment of Lewis blood-group epitopes. The
method was based on electrostatic repulsion/hydrophilic interaction
chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (ERLIC–MS/MS).
A specifically designed stationary phase, aspartic acid-bonded silica
(ABS), was used to separate the acidic and neutral HMOs by electrostatic
repulsion followed by HILIC. Negative-ion electrospray MS/MS was then
used for analysis of secretor status and Lewis blood phenotypes and
assignment of important epitopes of HMOs from the lactating mothers
by selecting a specific set of unique fragment ions.