Proteomics and opportunities for clinical translation in urological disease

Proteomics is a rapidly growing new discipline that has the potential to increase and improve the understanding of protein function and interaction in the context of systems biology. As a translational science it has the potential to identify many new therapeutic targets as well as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of disease. Proteomics approaches consist of a combination of powerful technologies such as protein/peptide separation, identification and bioinformatic detection, and quantitation based on powerful computational data processing tools. We present an overview of current proteomics technologies, a review of proteomics applications in urology and a perspective on the future of proteomics in clinical medicine.

A literature search was performed on the basic concepts of proteomics and technologies commonly used in this field. Advantages, challenges and limitations of current proteomics approaches are discussed, and proteomics applications in the field of urology are presented.

The proteomics approaches to answer clinical questions have only recently been introduced. Many different technologies have been used in this field, which is moving from simple description to quantitative clinical applications.

Proteomics offers new approaches to the study of genitourinary tract diseases, and the potential to identify clinically relevant biomarkers and new therapeutic targets.