Taverna et al.^45 use IMS for analysis of pressure ulcer in order to assess cutaneous
wound healing. After molecular imaging of tissue samples, proteins from distinct
regions werein situdigested with trypsin-containing hydrogel and identified with
LC-MS/MS.^46 This method allowed targeting different regions in the wounded
tissue by following the distribution of calcium-binding S-proteins. These so-called
S-100 molecules can be defined as distinct biomarkers for wound healing. Maier
et al.^47 use selective extraction of proteins from the IMS matrix with differently
hydrophobic solvents as preparation for subsequent proteolysis and LC-MS/MS.
All protein identification data from their study have been deposited into MaTissue,
a publically available database that can be a valuable resource for further protein
identification after IMS analysis. Results of the IMS investigation in the last 2–3
years, especially these ones in direction of identification of possible biomarker
candidates are encouraging, but we are still far from a high-throughput sample
analysis and identification of potential biomarker by use of this technique. Newest
results on the field of use of RPPA for clinical and translational research, and
altogether on the field of personalized medicine, show that it is still the method of
choice, especially regarding its use for high-throughput analyses in order to gain
patient profile in a relatively short time frame.^48
3 Targeted Biomarker Discovery
As already discussed above, biomarkers can be used for early detection of disease in
asymptomatic subjects, for disease diagnosis and prognosis, as well as for the
evaluation of the response to the therapy and following of the healing process.^49
The most important fact for use of proteomics as a tool in the personalized medicine
is the knowledge that the human individuals differ from another in their genotype.
The consequence are the differences in protein expression and furthermore in the
networks of protein–protein interactions. As a general conclusion, the robustness of
a human individual against a particular disease depends on its proteome and on the
structure and expression of the protein–protein interaction network.^50 Vidal et al.^51
discuss that human disorders should be viewed as perturbations of highly
interlinked networks and that different diseases exist that have a common molecular
(^45) Taverna et al. ( 2014 ).
(^46) Harris et al. ( 2013 ), pp. 2717–2723.
(^47) Maier et al. ( 2013 ), pp. 2901–2910.
(^48) Kim et al. (2014a), pp. 2803–2811; Forsstr€om et al. ( 2014 ), pp. 1585–1597.
(^49) Pesch et al. ( 2014 ), pp. 874–883; Meng and Veenstra ( 2011 ), pp. 2650–2659.
(^50) Forler et al. ( 2014 ), pp. 56–61.
(^51) Vidal et al. ( 2011 ), pp. 986–998.
The Role of Proteomics in Personalized Medicine 189