The Book Corner

In the first chapter of the book, the author, Dr. Lundbad introduces and defines proteome and proteomics. For the benefit of the reader, we quote here the first part of the introduction with which we agree. “Proteomics is an increasingly complex area of study that is expected to yield results important for the development of therapeutics, diagnostics and for the emerging discipline of theranostics, which emphasizes patient-specific therapeutics. What, however, exactly is proteomics? The term proteome dates back to 1995 when Humphrey-Smith and colleagues defined the proteome as “the total protein content of a genome.” Genome is defined as “a complete single set of the genetic material of a cell or of an organism; the complete set of genes in a gamete.” It would follow that proteomics is the study of the proteome. A variety of other definitions have been proposed for proteomics. Morrison and coworkers define the proteome as “the entire complement of proteins expressed by a cell at a point in time.” In such cases, proteomics would be the study of the proteome; however, this definition would exclude extracellular collections of proteins such as those found in blood plasma, urine, and lymphatic fluid. These latter studies use some of the tools of proteomics, such as twodimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, but are clearly different from studies where isotope-coded affinity tag (ICAT) technology is used to study differential protein expression and are used to identify biomarkers for diagnostics and therapeutics. Whatever the precise definition, proteomics involves the study of complex mixtures of proteins and their interactions. This somewhat broader definition might be useful in that it extends the application of proteomics to diagnostics. The technologies that underlie proteomics quite likely will improve sufficiently in analytical capability to be valuable in personalized medicine.” According to the author, “The overall intent of the current book is to address issues that are not discussed in detail by others and to avoid, where Journal of Immunoassay & Immunochemistry, 27: 289–290, 2006 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN 1532-1819 print/1532-4230 online DOI: 10.1080/15321810600735007