Sensitive mass spectrometric determination of kinin-kallikrein system peptides in light of COVID-19

This dataset provides information on the obtained MS/MS data generated during the conducted validation runs. Abstract of the corresponding paper: The outbreak of COVID-19 has raised interest in the kinin–kallikrein system, as symptoms were postulated to be in connection. Viral blockade of the angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 impedes degradation of the active kinin des-Arg(9)-bradykinin, which thus increasingly activates bradykinin receptors known to promote inflammation, cough, and edema – symptoms that are commonly observed in COVID-19. However, lean and reliable investigation of the postulated alterations is currently hindered by non-specific peptide adsorption, lacking sensitivity, and cross-reactivity of applicable assays. Here, an LC-MS/MS method was established to determine the following kinins in respiratory lavage fluids: kallidin, bradykinin, des-Arg(10)-kallidin, des-Arg(9)-bradykinin, bradykinin 1-7, bradykinin 2-9 and bradykinin 1-5. This method was fully validated according to regulatory bioanalytical guidelines of the European Medicine Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration and has a broad calibration curve range (up to a factor of 10³), encompassing low quantification limits of 4.4–22.8 pg/mL (depending on the individual kinin). The application of the developed LC-MS/MS method to nasal lavage fluid allowed for the rapid (~2 hours), comprehensive and low-volume (100 µL) determination of kinins for the first time. Hence, this novel assay may support current efforts to investigate the pathophysiology of COVID-19, but can also be extended to other diseases.