Challenges, current status and future perspectives of proteomics in improving understanding, diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease

Abstract

Technical advances have seen the rapid adoption of genomics and multiplex genetic polymorphism identification to research on vascular diseases. The utilization of proteomics for the study of vascular diseases has been limited by comparison. In this review we outline currently available proteomics techniques, the challenges to using these approaches and modifications which may improve the utilization of proteomics in the study of vascular diseases.

Figure 1

Standardised proteomics workflow. In a typical proteomics experiment, crude protein mixtures are fractionated to simplify downstream analyses. Proteins of interest are commonly investigated using mass spectrometry and identified following computer-aided database searches. Once identified, protein known proteins can be quantified by comparing relative expression between treatments (relative quantification), or compared to an internal standard of known quantity (absolute quantification). Examples of the techniques available to perform each step are provided. Definitions of acronyms are provided in Table 1.

Figure 2

Overview of cellular processes, and modern technologies available for their study. Definitions were sourced from the Human Proteome Organisation (http://www.hupo.org/overview/glossary/),^a the Human Metabolome Project (http://www.metabolomics.ca/),^b and a published article by Gomase and Tagore, (detailed in references).