Chemical Isotope Labeling and Dual-Filtering Strategy for Comprehensive Profiling of Urinary Glucuronide Conjugates

Glucuronidation, a crucial process in phase II metabolism, plays a vital role in the detoxification and elimination of endogenous substances and xenobiotics. A comprehensive and confident profiling of glucuronate-conjugated metabolites is imperative to understanding their roles in physiological and pathological processes. In this study, a chemical isotope labeling and dual-filtering strategy was developed for global profiling of glucuronide metabolites in biological samples. N,N-Dimethyl ethylenediamine (DMED-d₀) and its deuterated counterpart DMED-d₆ were used to label carboxylic acids through an amidation reaction. First, carboxyl-containing compounds were extracted based on a characteristic mass difference (Δm/z, 6.037 Da) observed in MS between light- and heavy-labeled metabolites (filter I). Subsequently, within the pool of carboxyl-containing compounds, glucuronides were identified using two pairs of diagnostic ions (m/z 247.1294/253.1665 and 229.1188/235.1559 for DMED-d₀/DMED-d₆-labeled glucuronides) originating from the fragmentation of the derivatized glucuronic acid group in MS/MS (filter II). Compared with non-derivatization, DEMD labeling significantly enhanced the detection sensitivity of glucuronides, as evidenced by a 3- to 55-fold decrease in limits of detection for representative standards. The strategy was applied to profiling glucuronide metabolites in urine samples from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. A total of 685 features were screened as potential glucuronides, among which 181 were annotated, mainly including glucuronides derived from lipids, organic oxygen, and phenylpropanoids. Enzymatic biosynthesis was employed to accurately identify unknown glucuronides without standards, demonstrating the reliability of the dual-filtering strategy. Our strategy exhibits great potential for profiling the glucuronide metabolome with high coverage and confidence to reveal changes in CRC and other diseases.