Mass spectrometry has become an increasingly important tool in the characterization of histocompatibility complex molecule (MHC) bound antigen peptides. It is one of the few technologies capable of identifying minute amounts of peptides in complex (5,000-10,000 constituents) MHC elution mixtures. Currently, the combination of tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (ESI) and microcapillary liquid chromatography (microLC) has proven to be the more versatile and effective technology. Post-source decay (PSD) and on-slide digestion combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-ToF) may be valuable as well in certain circumstances. Recent refinements in the technology, such as the development of the quadrupole ion trap (QIT), Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR), and orthogonal quadrupole-time-of-flight (qToF) mass spectrometers equipped with nanoscale electrospray ionization sources and combined with microscale LC or capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) yield attomole-range sensitivity in peptide sequencing, a level approaching the immuno-relevant level to a significant extent. In this review, past and ongoing developments in mass spectrometry and analytical separation techniques and their application to contemporary immunology are discussed.

中文翻译：

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质谱对当代免疫学的贡献。

质谱已成为表征组织相容性复合物分子（MHC）结合的抗原肽的越来越重要的工具。它是能够鉴定复杂（5,000-10,000个成分）MHC洗脱混合物中微量肽的少数技术之一。目前，串联质谱与电喷雾电离（ESI）和微毛细管液相色谱（microLC）的结合已被证明是更通用，更有效的技术。在某些情况下，源后衰减（PSD）和载玻片上的消解与基质辅助的激光解吸/电离飞行时间（MALDI-ToF）相结合也可能很有价值。该技术的最新改进，例如四极离子阱（QIT），傅立叶变换离子回旋共振（FTICR），配备纳米级电喷雾电离源并与微型LC或毛细管区带电泳（CZE）结合使用的正交四极杆飞行时间（qToF）质谱仪可在肽测序中获得attomole范围的灵敏度，该水平接近免疫相关水平在很大程度上。在这篇综述中，讨论了质谱和分析分离技术的过去和正在进行中的发展及其在当代免疫学中的应用。