Personalized Proteomics for Precision Health: Identifying Biomarkers of Vitreoretinal Disease.

Velez G1,2,3, Tang PH1,2,4, Cabral T5,6,7, Cho GY8,9,10, Machlab DA1,2, Tsang SH9,10,11, Bassuk AG12, Mahajan VB1,2,4.

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Abstract

Proteomic analysis is an attractive and powerful tool for characterizing the molecular profiles of diseased tissues, such as the vitreous. The complexity of data available for analysis ranges from single (e.g., enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]) to thousands (e.g., mass spectrometry) of proteins, and unlike genomic analysis, which is limited to denoting risk, proteomic methods take snapshots of a diseased vitreous to evaluate ongoing molecular processes in real time. The proteome of diseased ocular tissues was recently characterized, uncovering numerous biomarkers for vitreoretinal diseases and identifying protein targets for approved drugs, allowing for drug repositioning. These biomarkers merit more attention regarding their therapeutic potential and prospective validation, as well as their value as reproducible, sensitive, and specific diagnostic markers.

TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE:

Personalized proteomics offers many advantages over alternative precision-health platforms for the diagnosis and treatment of vitreoretinal diseases, including identification of molecular constituents in the diseased tissue that can be targeted by available drugs.