Metal-organic framework nanofilm enhances serum metabolic profiles for diagnosis and subtype of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a global health problem and is thought to be responsible for almost half of all deaths in the world. Nevertheless, currently available diagnostic methods for CVD are strongly depended on clinical observation and monitoring, which commonly result in false diagnosis. Herein, an attractive strategy of a metal-organic framework (MOF) nanofilm-based laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) was developed for enhancing serum metabolic profiling, which could provide precise diagnosis and molecular subtyping of CVD. The porous MOF nanofilm fabricated on indium-tin oxide (ITO) glass possessed enhanced ionization efficiency and size-exclusion effect, which endowed it as substrate with high sensitivity and selectivity for serum metabolites. Furthermore, the MOF nanofilm with uniform surface and high orientation provided high-quality and high-reproducibility serum metabolic profiles (SMPs) without any tedious pretreatment. Further analysis of extracted serum metabolic fingerprints could successfully distinguish patients with CVD from healthy controls and also differentiate two major subtypes of CVD. This work not only extends the application of MOF nanofilm as an attractive MS probe, but also provide an alternative way for precise diagnosis of CVD in molecular level.