Zastosowanie spektrometrii mas w poszukiwaniach biomarkerów chorób nowotworowych

Abstrakt

Recently, mainly thanks to the creation of genomic sequences' databases of many organisms and invention of new technologies, rapid development of proteomics took place. Proteomics is the branch of modern molecular biology that deals with global analysis of proteins. A crucial part of this area of research is mass spectrometry, which allows sensitive, precise, fast and automated identification of single components of highly complex protein mixtures. Proteomic analysis is a multistage process that consists of sample collection and preparation, protein separation, their quantification and identification, and analysis of the collected data. One of the aims of proteomics is to identify biomarkers - specific indicators of defined biological processes. The biomarkers are extremely important from the medical point of view, since they can be applied as diagnostic parameters, or serve as aims of novel therapies. As cancer is still an unsolved problem of healthcare, many experiments have been conducted aiming at identification of biomarkers of these incurable illnesses.