Proteomics and metabolomics in cancer biomarker discovery

Cancer biomarker discovery is crucial for early diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring, and proteomics and metabolomics have emerged as powerful tools in biomarker research. Proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins, provides insights into the complex molecular changes that occur in cancer cells, offering potential biomarkers for tumor identification and monitoring treatment responses. Through techniques such as mass spectrometry and protein microarrays, proteomic analysis can identify differential protein expression, post-translational modifications, and protein-protein interactions that characterize different cancer stages. Similarly, metabolomics, the comprehensive analysis of small molecule metabolites, enables the identification of metabolic alterations associated with cancer. Tumor cells often exhibit reprogrammed metabolic pathways to sustain growth, making metabolites valuable as biomarkers for early cancer detection and treatment stratification. Both omics approaches allow for the identification of cancer-specific signatures, uncovering potential biomarkers with clinical relevance. This chapter describes the different proteomics and metabolomics techniques which are used in cancer biomarker discovery.