Antibody-based arrays in disease proteomics

Abstract

It is now 20 years since the term proteomics was first coined and soon thereafter began appearing in the scientific literature. In this review, we describe the opportunities and challenges in proteomics as an approach to understand disease at the molecular level. Proteome complexity is a fundamental challenge, which limits our ability to perform a comprehensive analysis of protein expression in cells or tissues. Not surprisingly, most progress has been made in homogeneous model systems, such as cell lines, using approaches that reduce the size and complexity of the proteome under investigation, eg, by affinity enrichment strategies. Targeted protein profiling methods are another approach to tackle this complexity. Here, antibody-based arrays can play an important role, because of their exquisite selectivity and sensitivity, even in complex matrices where mass spectrometry-based methods are not suitable. We conclude that in the future successful proteomics studies will combine discovery and targeted platforms, to obtain new insights as well as ensure robust validation.