E ditor - in - chief
William S. Hancock
Barnett Institute and Department of Chemistry Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115 617-373-4881; fax 617-373-2855
[email protected] Associate E ditors Joshua LaBaer Harvard Medical School György Marko-Varga AstraZeneca and Lund University Martin McIntosh Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Cons u lting E ditor Jeremy K. Nicholson Imperial College London E ditorial adv isory board Ruedi H. Aebersold ETH Hönggerberg Rolf Apweiler European Bioinformatics Institute Ronald Beavis Manitoba Centre for Proteomics Rainer Bischoff University of Groningen Dolores Cahill University College Dublin Thomas P. Conrads University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center Thomas E. Fehniger AstraZeneca Catherine Fenselau University of Maryland Daniel Figeys University of Ottawa Craig Gelfand BD Diagnostics Brian Haab Van Andel Institute Sam Hanash Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Albert Heck Utrecht University Stanley Hefta Bristol-Myers Squibb Denis Hochstrasser University of Geneva Elaine Holmes Imperial College London Michael J. Hubbard University of Melbourne Donald F. Hunt University of Virginia Barry L. Karger Northeastern University Joachim Klose Charité-University Medicine Berlin Setsuko Komatsu National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences David M. Lubman University of Michigan Matthias Mann Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry David Muddiman North Carolina State University Robert F. Murphy Carnegie Mellon University Gilbert S. Omenn University of Michigan Nicolle Packer Proteome Systems Limited Akhilesh Pandey Johns Hopkins University Peipei Ping University of California, Los Angeles Henry Rodriguez National Cancer Institute Michael Snyder Yale University Clifford H. Spiegelman Texas A&M University Hanno Steen Children’s Hospital Boston Timothy D. Veenstra SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute Scot R. Weinberger Molecular Sensing, Inc. Susan T. Weintraub University of Texas Health Science Center John R. Yates, III The Scripps Research Institute
editorial
A Window on the Mammary Gland Proteome
T
he advent of technologies that allow systematic interrogation of complex proteomes and the identification of differentially expressed proteins in cells or tissues has engendered interest in the application of proteomics to develop a better understanding of physiological and pathological processes on an organ-by-organ basis. The mammary gland and its associated diseases, notably breast cancer, represent a good model system and a test case for what proteomics can do. A need exists to understand mammary tissue physiology, identify risk factors for disease and markers for early detection, and develop means for molecular pathological classifications of breast lesions as preneoplastic, neoplastic, and so on. In addition, a need exists to identify novel targets for therapeutics and ways to monitor disease progression, regression, or recurrence. Currently, researchers are implementing numerous proteomics approaches that target the mammary gland and its associated pathologies. This special issue of JPR provides a snapshot of the progress in the field and a window on the various strategies being pursued to tackle the challenges at hand, which stem from the complexity of these tissues and the extensive heterogeneity inherent in diseases of the mammary gland. Perhaps the greatest challenge lies in the identification of blood-based biomarkers that are useful for detecting diseases, such as breast cancer, at an early stage. Are the strategies of fractionation or enrichment that aim to divide and conquer the plasma proteome succeeding? Some of the studies featured in this special issue attest to the progress made to date with serum- and plasma-based strategies to identify biomarkers. The vast dynamic range of protein abundance in plasma has led to a search for alternative strategies to identify candidate markers closer to the tissue source. An obvious target is breast tissue itself. Other in vivo sources include fluids that bathe the tissue or are produced by it. Cell lines or tumor-derived cell populations also can be manipulated and interrogated in numerous ways. Animal models that are genetically engineered to recapitulate a disease process provide yet another means to identify candidate markers and determine their temporal change with disease initiation, progression, and regression. The studies presented or reviewed in this special issue highlight the progress made with these various strategies. Common to all proteomics strategies and to all targeted organs and disease states are considerations related to experimental design, sample processing, and data handling. This special issue, which highlights progress in the proteomics of the mammary gland, also vividly illustrates how these challenges are being addressed both in basic and in translational proteomics studies.
1368 Journal of Proteome Research • Vol. 7, No. 4, 2008
SAM HANASH Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and SERHIY SOUCHELNYTSKYI Karolinska Institute Biomics Center (Sweden)
© 2008 American Chemical Society
