Prostate cancer proteomics: Current trends and future perspectives for biomarker discovery

The clinical and fundamental research in prostate cancer - the most common urological cancer in men - is currently entering the proteomic and genomic era. The focus has switched from one single marker (PSA) to panels of biomarkers (including proteins involved in ribosomal function and heat shock proteins). Novel genetic markers (such as Transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2)-ERG fusion gene mRNA) or prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3) had already entered the clinical practice, raising the question whether subsequent protein changes impact the evolution of the disease and the response to treatment. Proteomic technologies such as MALDI-MS, SELDI-MS, i-TRAQ allow a qualitative/quantitative analysis of the proteome variations, in both serum and tumor tissue. A new trend in prostate cancer research is proteomic analysis of prostasomes (prostate-specific exosomes), for the discovery of new biomarkers. This paper provides an update of novel clinical tests used in research and clinical diagnostic, as well as of potential tissue or fluid biomarkers provided by extensive proteomic research data.

Oncotarget. 2017 Jan 04 [Epub ahead of print]

Cristiana Pistol Tanase, Elena Codrici, Ionela Daniela Popescu, Simona Mihai, Ana-Maria Enciu, Laura Georgiana Necula, Adrian Preda, Gener Ismail, Radu Albulescu

Department of Biochemistry-Proteomics, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology, Bucharest, Romania., Center for Uronephrology and Renal Transplantation, Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest, Romania., Center of Internal Medicine-Nephrology, Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest, Romania.