Translational Research and Plasma Proteomic in Cancer

Abstract

Proteomics is a recent field of research in molecular biology that can help in the fight against cancer through the search for biomarkers that can detect this disease in the early stages of its development. Proteomic is a speedily growing technology, also thanks to the development of even more sensitive and fast mass spectrometry analysis. Although this technique is the most widespread for the discovery of new cancer biomarkers, it still suffers of a poor sensitivity and insufficient reproducibility, essentially due to the tumor heterogeneity. Common technical shortcomings include limitations in the sensitivity of detecting low abundant biomarkers and possible systematic biases in the observed data. Current research attempts are trying to develop high-resolution proteomic instrumentation for high-throughput monitoring of protein changes that occur in cancer. In this review, we describe the basic features of the proteomic tools which have proven to be useful in cancer research, showing their advantages and disadvantages. The application of these proteomic tools could provide early biomarkers detection in various cancer types and could improve the understanding the mechanisms of tumor growth and dissemination.

The Crosstalk between Prostate Cancer and Microbiota Inflammation: Nutraceutical Products Are Useful to Balance This Interplay?

“…Chronic inflammation could have, moreover, a significant effect on cancer progression and metastatic invasion due to neo-angiogenesis and activation of epithelial–mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) [ 31 , 32 ]. These biologic and pathogenic processes are correlated to various molecules defined as biomarkers/indicators of normal, or pharmacologic, responses to a therapeutic intervention [ 33 ]. The control of these phenomena triggers pathways, as migration, proliferation, cell growth, apoptosis, and adhesion through various downstream effectors.…”

Cancer diagnostics: The journey from histomorphology to molecular profiling

“…Non-histologic molecular diagnostic tests can be performed on the patient's tumor tissue directly or on cells harvested from body fluids and include techniques based on DNA/RNA, protein assay methods, and biologic assay methods (Figure 2 ). Next generation sequencing methods are leading cancer profiling research [ 55 , 56 ], and a few advances in non-morphologic proteomic methods have also been made [ 57 – 59 ]. In addition to their value in yielding diagnostic and prognostic information, molecular profiling and gene expression signatures have also been successfully used to differentiate between benign and malignant breast and thyroid lesions with high accuracy [ 60 , 61 ].…”

Circulating biomarkers in epithelial ovarian cancer diagnosis: from present to future perspective

“…The development of sensitive and fast protein microarray and high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS) techniques has led to the discovery of several candidate biomarkers highly expressed in OC compared to healthy controls (8,33). However, the specificity of candidate biomarkers must be successively assessed in the verification phase and finally both the sensitivity and specificity should be evaluated in a clinical setting (34).…”

“…However, notwithstanding apparently encouraging successes, a bridge between basic research and clinical practice (named translational oncology) (7,8) has not yet been built.…”