The potential of proteomics and peptidomics for allergy and asthma research

Abstract

Progress in the field of proteomics, the branch of biology that studies the full set of proteins derived from a given genome, is moving fast. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DG) separation of complex protein mixtures and the subsequent analysis of isolated protein spots by mass spectrometry allow fast and accurate identification of proteins. The comparison of spots from different samples separated on customized 2D gels allows the detection of punctual differences in their mobility and facilitates tracing back differences in protein expression, presence of isoforms, splice variants and posttranslational modifications by mass spectrometry. In spite of significant analytical challenges owing to the high complexity of the proteome and the challenge deriving from the necessity to process huge amounts of raw data generated by mass spectrometric profiling, proteomics has evolved to an indispensable tool in life sciences. A restricted window of the proteome that consists of peptides and small proteins not easily manageable by conventional gel electrophoresis prompted the development of separation methods based on liquid chromatography. This new research field termed peptidomics already contributed, together with proteomics to enlarge our knowledge about biological processes and supported by sophisticated bioinformatics tools, to the discovery of new diagnostic and therapeutic targets. The technological capabilities of biophysical separation, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics form the basis of discovery programs that aim at mining the proteome starting from microgram amounts of protein extracts derived from body fluids and tissues. Proteomics and peptidomics have a great potential to speed up allergy and asthma research, where disease- and tissue-specific samples are easy to obtain.