Proteomics in Drug Discovery

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter describes proteomics technology and discusses the technical problems associated with proteome analysis along with ways to overcome the respective problems. It includes a representative selection of examples of the application of proteomics studies to the identification of markers and new drug targets. A detailed study of the human proteome and the proteomes of other organisms under various physiological conditions is essential for a complete understanding of the mechanism of disease and thus for the future discovery of new drugs. The power of proteomics technology will lead to new clinical markers of disease, new protein therapeutics, and new drug targets. The drug industry can utilize proteomics in three ways: (1) drug target identification, (2) drug validation and toxicology, and (3) marker identification and pharmacoproteomics. Proteomics technology, when applied to drug target identification, can be performed from either a global and comprehensive perspective or a focused and functional one. The utility of proteomics for drug validation and toxicology studies has found support in the pharmaceutical proteomics sectors. Proteomics technology can be used to profile proteins in largely acellular bodily fluids not suitable for analysis by genomic technologies. In the case of cellular studies, data obtained from proteomics can be used to complement protein expression data inferred from genomic or transcriptional studies. Programs initiated to identify potential drug targets for a disease may instead lead to the identification of putative markers for the disease. In many cases this is due to the limitations of the technology that allows for the detection of only the most abundant proteins in a general screening approach, those that are more likely to be surrogate markers of the disease.