Kavallaris Maria, Marshall Glenn M
Experimental Therapeutics Program, Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research, Sydney, NSW.
Med J Aust. 2005 Jun 6;182(11):575-9. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb06817.x.
Since the human genome was sequenced, there has been intense activity to understand the function of the 30,000 identified genes; attention has now turned to the products of genes--proteins. Proteomics is the large-scale study of the structure and function of proteins; it includes the rapidly evolving field of disease proteomics, which aims to identify proteins involved in human disease and to understand how their expression, structure and function cause illness. Proteomics has identified proteins that offer promise as diagnostic or prognostic markers, or as therapeutic targets in a range of illnesses, including cancer, immune rejection after transplantation, and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria; it has the potential to allow patient-tailored therapy. Some major challenges remain, both technical (eg, detecting "low-abundance" proteins, and maintaining sample stability) and in data management (eg, correlating changes in proteins with disease processes).
自人类基因组测序完成以来，人们为了解已识别出的3万个基因的功能展开了大量活动；如今注意力已转向基因产物——蛋白质。蛋白质组学是对蛋白质结构和功能的大规模研究；它包括迅速发展的疾病蛋白质组学领域，该领域旨在识别与人类疾病相关的蛋白质，并了解它们的表达、结构和功能是如何引发疾病的。蛋白质组学已识别出有望作为诊断或预后标志物，或作为包括癌症、移植后免疫排斥以及结核病和疟疾等传染病在内的一系列疾病的治疗靶点的蛋白质；它有可能实现针对患者的个性化治疗。仍存在一些重大挑战，包括技术方面的（例如，检测“低丰度”蛋白质以及保持样本稳定性）和数据管理方面的（例如，将蛋白质变化与疾病进程相关联）。
