Mass spectrometry benchmarking study assesses reliability of reported human microprotein detections (nature.com)

• Twelve published studies on MS-based microprotein detection were compared.
• Manual evaluation of 406 PSMs showed high quality in immunopeptidomics, low in conventional proteomics.
• Only 7.8% of conventional detections would be high-quality versus 65% in immunopeptidomics.

"A community study analyzed twelve publications claiming mass-spectrometry-based detection of unannotated human microproteins. Results show large variation in reported numbers and peptide-spectrum match (PSM) quality. While 70% of PSMs from immunopeptidomics studies were high-quality, 85% from conventional proteomics were low. The study emphasizes the need for standardized protocols and cautious interpretation."