Effect of fetal bovine serum in culture media on MS analysis of mesenchymal stromal cells secretome

The analysis of mesenchymal stromal cells secretome is fundamental to identify key players of processes involving these cells. Truly secreted proteins may be difficult to detect in MS based analysis of conditioned media (CM) due to proteins supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS). We compared different growth conditions to determine the effect of varying FBS concentration on the number and quantity of truly secreted human proteins vs contaminating bovine proteins. The results suggest that to minimize interference cells should be grown in presence of FBS until confluence and transferred into a serum-free medium prior to secretome collection.