Application of Proteomics to Cancer Molecular Diagnostics

Strategies to achieve personalized medicine and improve public health encompass assessment of an individual's risk for disease,

Strategies to achieve personalized medicine and improve public health encompass assessment of an individual＇s risk for disease, early detection and molecular classification of disease resulting in an informed choice of the most appropriate treatment instituted at an early stage of disease development. A maior contribution of proteomics in this field is the development of blood based tests to achieve the goals of personalized medicine. An integrated cooperative effort is currently under way for the identification of biomarkers of cancer risk, early detection of cancer, identification of altered signaling pathways and markers prognostic markers based on serum and plasma analysis. This is illustrated in proteomic studies of epithelialcancer, notably breast and lung cancer that encompass analysis of specimens collected before onset of symptoms for the identification of risk and early detection markers and elucidation of signatures in plasma for altered signahng pathways in tumors.