Solutions for Infectious Diseases

Significance of the Topic

Infectious diseases, driven by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, represent a growing challenge to public health and safety. Recent data indicate a marked increase in bacterial infections over the past decade, underscoring the need for sensitive and reliable analytical methods. High-performance separation and detection techniques are essential for vaccine development, quality control of pharmaceutical products, pathogen identification and biomarker discovery.

Objectives and Study Overview

This document surveys the application of three core mass spectrometry platforms—liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)—across the phases of avoidance, testing and care. The aim is to illustrate method selection, performance benefits and practical workflows for managing infectious disease challenges.

Methodology and Instrumentation

The analytical approach is organized by use phase:

• Avoidance phase: LC-MS for oligonucleotide purity in vaccine candidates, MALDI-TOF MS for peptide quality control, and headspace GC-MS for alcohol content in hand sanitizers.
• Testing phase: LC-MS/MS quantitation of protein biomarkers from dried plasma spots, MALDI-TOF MS for rapid microbial species identification, and multidimensional GC-MS for tuberculosis biomarker profiling in sputum.
• Care phase: Automated solid-phase extraction coupled to LC-MS/MS for antiviral drug and metabolite monitoring in plasma, and LC-UV/MS analysis of drug impurities under pharmacopeial guidelines.

Used Instrumentation

• Shimadzu LCMS-9030 Q-TOF LC-MS
• Shimadzu MALDI-8030 dual-polarity benchtop MALDI-TOF MS
• Shimadzu Nexis GC-2030 with HS-20 headspace sampler
• Shimadzu LCMS-8060 and 8060NX triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS
• Shimadzu AXIMA Microorganism Identification System for MALDI-TOF MS
• Shimadzu MDGC/GCMS-2010 multidimensional GC-MS
• Shimadzu CLAM-2040 automated sample preparation module
• Shimadzu Nexera and Nexera lite HPLC/UHPLC systems

Main Results and Discussion

In the avoidance phase, Q-TOF LC-MS achieved resolution and mass accuracy for 10–60 mer oligonucleotides, MALDI-TOF MS in negative mode produced clean mass spectra of synthetic peptides, and headspace GC-MS provided robust alcohol content analysis in hand sanitizers with minimal contamination. During testing, LC-MS/MS of dried plasma spots enabled precise quantitation of 27 peptide biomarkers with reduced matrix effects; MALDI-TOF MS coupled with a dedicated database permitted high-confidence identification of Escherichia coli strains despite high ribosomal RNA homology; and multidimensional GC-MS isolated 20 candidate tuberculosis biomarkers from complex sputum matrices. In the care phase, fully automated sample preparation and LC-MS/MS delivered accurate remdesivir and metabolite measurements in human plasma with strong reproducibility, while LC-UV/MS assays met Japanese and European pharmacopeial criteria for dexamethasone impurity profiling.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Improved specificity and sensitivity in oligonucleotide and peptide analysis supporting vaccine development.
• Automated workflows that increase throughput, reduce variability and lower exposure risks during bioanalysis.
• Rapid pathogen identification to inform clinical decision-making and outbreak control.
• Robust quantitation of drugs and biomarkers in clinical samples, facilitating pharmacokinetic studies and therapeutic monitoring.
• Pharmacopeia-compliant impurity testing to ensure pharmaceutical safety and regulatory adherence.

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Integration of AI-driven data processing and IoT connectivity is expected to further streamline instrument operation and data interpretation. Expansion of high-throughput multiplexed assays and enhanced multidimensional separation strategies will enable deeper insights into host–pathogen interactions and personalized therapeutic monitoring. Continued development of compact, dual-polarity and automated platforms will drive broader adoption in clinical, environmental and industrial settings.

Conclusion

The presented analytical solutions demonstrate versatile and effective approaches to critical tasks in infectious disease research and management. By leveraging advanced MS platforms and automated workflows, laboratories can achieve high accuracy, reproducibility and throughput across vaccine development, quality control, pathogen detection and therapeutic monitoring.

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables, 2009.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System Annual Data, 2019.
• Muroi M, et al. Discrimination of species processing highly conserved ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. 2011.