Proteomic approaches to central nervous system disorders

Abstract The discovery, design and evaluation of new medicines is critically dependent on the elucidation of protein mechanisms involved in human diseases. Since the proteome of a cell or tissue is not a simple reflection of its transcriptome, direct protein-based analysis is needed. Advances in proteomic technologies are improving the analysis of membrane proteins and signaling complexes with increased speed and molecular detail. Changes in protein isoforms due to post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation induced by cell signaling events and alternative splice forms of receptors, may be mapped to an altered protein expression pattern in clinically relevant cell populations with a causative or diagnostic disease link. A CNS proteome database derived from primary human tissues may avoid ambiguities of experimental models. It will also accelerate the development of more specific diagnostic and prognostic disease markers as well as new selective therapeutics. Proteomics is also being applied to resolve in silico gene prediction uncertainties by direct open reading frame verification. These advances hold great promise for improvements in the understanding, diagnosis and therapy of central nervous system disorders.