Lisa Grauer from BioTechniques recently discussed an elegant study by Dr. Benjamin Natelson of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, that highlights the utility of proteome-wide association studies in disease diagnosis.
Her article focused on a study that compared the protein profile in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of “normal” individuals and those suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS…talk about getting confused by acronyms) or neurologic post-treatment Lyme syndrome (nPTLS). The results showed 738 proteins that were uniquely expressed in the CFS group and 692 in the nPTLS group. These findings are a significant step in the study of CFS and nPTLS which until now have been classified as “medically unexplained illnesses” often resulting in patient complaints not being taken seriously by their primary care provider.
While more detailed downstream analysis remain to be done, this study provides a wonderful example of how population-scale proteomic studies help in the advancement of disease diagnosis.
For more information see the original BioTechniques article.
Tags: disease diagnosis, proteome-wide association study, Proteomics, proteominer