Application of proteomics to cancer therapy

Abstract

Conventional cancer therapy relies heavily on genomics for the screening of patients, with a number of cancers being identified and classified through the presence of specific mutations. Tests for well-described, key genes along various biochemical pathways are used to assess the risk of malignancy, diagnosis and prognosis. However, such analysis is insufficient for many patients and needs to be supplemented with information related to the downstream protein phenotype, and which is more patient-specific. A comprehensive understanding of the changes in the proteome over the progression of cancer, from the pre-malignant to the metastatic phase, is required. Proteomic technologies are slowly becoming more accessible and are being employed at various stages of cancer therapy. Such techniques are capable of providing patient-specific data which improves decision-making. Various proteins have been proposed as biomarkers for specific malignancies either for the screening of tumour biopsies or serum proteome as a form of non-invasive testing. Moreover certain changes in protein properties are linked to tumour-specific aberrant post-translational modifications e.g. abnormal protein activity due to phosphorylation. In the very near future cancer therapy will rely on a combination of mutational data from the current, standard genomic technologies and data from other levels including revolutionary proteomic technologies integrated into a patient-centred system for the diagnosis, sub-classification, and administration of individualized therapies