Abstract
Now that the human genome is completed, the characterization of
the proteins encoded by the sequence remains a challenging task.
The study of the complete protein complement of the genome, the
“proteome,” referred to as proteomics, will be essential if new
therapeutic drugs and new disease biomarkers for early diagnosis
are to be developed. Research efforts are already underway to
develop the technology necessary to compare the specific protein
profiles of diseased versus nondiseased states. These
technologies provide a wealth of information and rapidly generate
large quantities of data. Processing the large amounts of data
will lead to useful predictive mathematical descriptions of
biological systems which will permit rapid identification of
novel therapeutic targets and identification of metabolic
disorders. Here, we present an overview of the current status and
future research approaches in defining the cancer cell's proteome
in combination with different bioinformatics and computational
biology tools toward a better understanding of health and disease.