Soluble polymer-based isotopic labeling (SoPIL): a new strategy to discover protein biomarkers?

Much attention has been given to protein biomarker discovery in the field of proteomics in the past few years. Proteomic strategies for biomarker discovery normally include the identification of proteins that alter during the progression of a particular disease state in high throughput. To perform these studies requires the ability to measure changes of low-abundance proteins in highly complex mixtures from different biological states. Soluble polymer-based isotope labeling (SoPIL) is a new proteomics strategy that targets specific classes of proteins for isotopic labeling, efficient isolation and accurate quantitation by mass spectrometry. The method exploits the features of homogenous solution-phase reaction, simple solid-phase extraction and characteristic cell-permeable nanoparticles. Recent applications demonstrate that the SoPIL reagents are ideal for quantitative proteomics and phosphoproteomics, and could have the potential to discover disease markers in the most physiologically relevant settings.