Contributions of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry to “highlights” of biomedical research

Combined chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques and in particular liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) have been contributing in a decisive way to the progress of life sciences in general. Thus, the number of document entries in the US National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE) for articles dealing with LC–MS was 738 in 1991 and 2285 in 2001, with a total of 13 147 for the whole 10-year period, an increase of 310%. From these figures, we can ascertain that the total usage of combined LC–MS techniques is of the order of 40% relative to all of the MS publications collected in MEDLINE for the same period. However, from the perspective of real advances in medicine, it becomes difficult to identify what is outstanding in this field. The aim of this review was not to provide another LC–MS review, but an overview of the current status of the presence, visibility and impact of combined LC–MS techniques in biomedical research. The idea being to spot “highlight” literature contributions with the potential to become in the short or medium term real assets in a doctor’s daily medical practice. In other words, after several truly remarkable technical achievements reported within the past decade, are we any closer to making LC–MS a useful and practical diagnostic tool for molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine? To approach this question, a literature survey was carried out to define: (i) the presence of LC–MS in the biomedical literature (MEDLINE) and its weight relative to the whole field of biological and biomedical mass spectrometry; (ii) the role of LC–MS in recent milestone biomedical contributions; and (iii) the present and future role of new LC–MS technology in medical diagnosis.