Reverse-phase protein microarrays for tissue-based analysis

The deciphering of the human genome has elucidated our biological structural design and has generated insights into disease development and pathogenesis. At the same time, knowledge of genetic changes during disease processes has demonstrated the need to move beyond genomics towards proteomics and a systems biology approach to science. Analyzing the proteome comprises more than just a numeration of proteins. In fact, it characterizes proteins within cells in the context of their functional status and interactions in their physiological micro- and macro-environments. As dysregulated signaling often underpins most human diseases, an overarching goal of proteomics is to profile the working state of signaling pathways, to develop 'circuit maps' of normal and diseased protein networks and identify hyperactive, defective or inoperable transduction pathways. Reverse-phase protein microarrays represent a new technology that can generate a multiplex readout of dozens of phosphorylated events simultaneously to profile the state of a signaling pathway target even after the cell is lyzed and the contents denatured.