MS-GUIDE: A biomarker discovery and translation strategy

Biomarkers are important for monitoring the progression and effective treatment of diseases such as prostate cancer which are heterogeneous in nature ranging from slowly developing to highly aggressive. Existing diagnostic tools imperfectly diagnose disease aggressiveness, therefore additional biomarkers are required that can help identify patients with lethal disease who require more intense treatment. Coming up with a general approach to identify such biomarkers is what Sandra Goetze and her colleagues set out to do in their work published in Clinical Proteomics. They combined the use of mass spectrometry, to verify proteins present in the serum of prostate cancer patients, with Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) to validate and measure levels of the identified protein markers. The approach, named Mass Spectrometry-GUided Immunoassay Development (MS-GUIDE), is generally applicable and can be used in other disease settings as well. If you are interested in the use of mass spectrometry and how it can be combined with other techniques to accelerate translational biomarker research, then this in silico talk is a must-watch!