ABSTRACT
When the late Frank Putnam edited The Plasma Proteins in 1960,1 it took two volumes to contain the information; the second edition, published in 1975,2 consisted of four volumes. Schaller and coworkers3 contributed an excellent book on the molecular biology of plasma proteins. All three of these books discussed a large number of proteins with diverse functions. By comparison, the current work is a modest single volume that focuses on a smaller number of plasma proteins that are current commercial projects or have the potential to be commercial products, or are biomarkers. As discussed in Chapter 2, the plasma industry is akin to the oil re€nery business, where the starting raw material (plasma) is taken through a fractionation process with the product removed at various intervals. Since the €xed costs of plasma fractionation are not insigni€cant, it is useful to obtain as many products as possible from the raw material. Blood contains cells and plasma; the function of the cellular components is understood to a variable degree, and as I attend seminars at the local university and follow the literature, I gather that such understanding is evolving.4 It is possible to classify plasma proteins into three categories: proteins that are intrinsic to the homeostatic function, such as coagulation; proteins that are transported to the site of action, such as insulin; and proteins resulting from tissue damage, including a variety of enzymes.5 Using proteomic technology, an analysis of plasma yields a large number of unique proteins6,7 with potentially interesting differences.8,9 Most of the work on the analysis of plasma using proteomic technology is focused on the identi€cation of biomarkers.10 The proteins discussed in this chapter are the proteins that did not “€t” into the other chapters.
