Identification of therapeutic targets for cancer: Proteomic technologies and strategies are the key to success

With the emergence of the field of ‘omics’ a new era of systematic global profiling of cellular molecules has been initiated in biology. Different ‘omics’ approaches have been extensively used to identify biomarkers for better diagnosis and prognosis, therapeutic strategies and monitoring response to therapy in diverse types of cancers. Proteomics is the approach of choice for identification of therapeutic targets. This is because therapeutic modulation of expression, post-translational modification and activity of a protein can directly rectify the derangement in the disease-causing cellular pathway. The current review scans literature on tumor proteomics to understand the influence of developments in proteomics technology and study approaches on identification of targets for therapy. Diversity of tumor types, molecular heterogeneity in pathologically indistinguishable tumors provides ample challenge to assess the strength of proteomics in identification of drug targets. The review highlights comparative proteomic profiling by gel-based or gel free approach, in tumor and normal tissues or chemo-resistant/sensitive tumor tissues have identified differentiator proteins, with potential as targetsas therapeutic targets. Further, along with evolution in proteomic technologies for identification and quantification of proteins, various tools for functional analysis of proteins have contributed to strategies for target identification. It also suggests that future advances in quantitative, functional and structural proteomics isare necessary to widen the search for therapeutic targets.