Application of proteomic technologies to tumor analysis

The sequencing of the human genome has had an enormous impact on the proteomic analysis of cancer by providing a sequence-based framework for understanding the human proteome of tumor cells, tissues, and biological fluids. There is intense interest in applying proteomic technologies to uncover, at the protein level, processes involved in neoplastic transformation and new biomarkers that correlate with early diagnosis, as well as to accelerate the development of new therapeutic targets. To that effect, new technologies are being developed in order to meet the needs for the high throughput and high sensitivity that is required for cancer-related applications of proteomics. These innovative technologies have greatly enhanced our ability to separate and characterize complex protein mixtures, and have aided our ability to identify proteins with greater sensitivity, thereby providing the groundwork for future scientific breakthroughs and possibly providing impetus for the development of personalized cancer therapy.