Proteomics in molecular medicine: applications in central nervous systems disorders

Bodily fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum can be analysed at the time of presentation and throughout the course of the disease. Changes in the protein composition of CSF may be indicative of altered CNS protein expression pattern with a causative or diagnostic disease link. These findings can be strengthened through subsequent proteomic analysis of specific brain areas implicated in the pathology. New isolation strategies of clinically relevant cellular material such as laser capture microdissection, protein enrichment procedures and proteomic approaches to neuropeptide and neurotransmitter analysis give us the opportunity to map out complex cellular interaction at an unprecedented level of detail. In neurological disorders multiple underlying pathogenic mechanisms as well as an acute and a chronic CNS disease components may require a selective repertoire of molecular targets and biomarkers rather than an individual protein to better define a complex disease. The resulting proteome database bypasses many ambiguities of experimental models and may facilitate pre- and clinical development of more specific disease markers and new selective fast acting therapeutics.