ABSTRACT
The postgenomic research quickly expands to characterize the human proteome, including the posttranscriptional modifi cations of all human proteins. Many clinical proteomic projects are launched to search for new biomarkers of human diseases and drug targets for personalized therapies for the future years of molecular medicine. Successful proteomic analysis of human serum and urine samples have shown feasibility to reveal distinctive protein profi les of healthy human subjects and cancer patients. 2
The proteomic samples are analyzed with effective separation techniques such as the surface-enhanced laser desorption and ionization time-of-fl ight mass spectroscopy (SELDI-TOF MS), 3,4 and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. 5 The disease protein profi les were identifi ed from cell extracts employing laser capture microdissection to catch cells from tissue specimens. 6 Certain biological signaling networks were mapped to depict a delicate balance of protein-protein, protein-RNA, and protein-DNA interactions. 1,7-9 An example signaling pathway is displayed here for the tumor necrosis factor TNF- that actives the transcriptional factor NF-B (Figure 27.1). 1,10 Such a proteomic map may serve as a guide to design effective anti-cancer therapies. 11,12
FIGURE 27.1 The TNF-/NF-B signaling pathway visualized as a network. From Ref.1, with permission.
