Integration of metabolomics and proteomics in multiple sclerosis: From biomarkers discovery to personalized medicine

Abstract

Personalized medicine is the science of individualized prevention and therapy. In the last decade, advances in high-throughput approaches allowed the development of proteomic and metabolomic studies in evaluating the association of genetic and phenotypic variability with disease sensitivity and analgesic response. These considerations have more value in case of multiple sclerosis (MuS), a multifactorial disease with high heterogeneity in clinical course and treatment response. In this review, we reported and updated about proteomic and metabolomic studies for the research of new candidate biomarkers in MuS, and difficulties in their clinical applications. We focused especially on the description of both "omics" approaches that, once integrated, may synergically describe pathophysiology conditions. To prove this assumption, we rebuilt interaction between proteins and metabolites described in the literature as potential biomarkers for MuS, and a pathway analysis of these molecules was performed. The result of such speculation demonstrated a strong convergence of proteomic and metabolomic results in this field, showing also a poorness of available tools for incorporating "omics" approaches. In conclusion, the integration of Metabolomics and Proteomics may allow a more complete characterization of such a heterogeneous disease, providing further insights into personalized healthcare.

Investigation of the global protein content from healthy human tears

“…With non-invasive, easy and rapidly collected samples, tear-based approaches open up however new routes for diagnostic methods and for deepening understanding of both ocular and systemic diseases. Differences in the tear protein pattern of patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy (1), Graves' Orbitopathy (2), dry eye disease (3), multiple sclerosis (4,5) and even breast cancer (6) or renal failure (7) have already been highlighted. In addition, it is also well known that tears can be an infectious fluid as Herpes simplex virus (8), hepatitis B virus (9), human immunodeficiency virus (10) or parasites (11)(12)(13) are detectable.…”

Integrated Proteomic and Metabolomic prediction of Term Preeclampsia

“…It deepens insights into cellular pathways and regulatory mechanisms and is extensively used for the discovery of biomarkers and identification of new therapeutic targets. The integration of proteomics and metabolomics, has been proposed to further elucidate disease pathogenesis and to improve biomarker prediction in cancer research 19 – 21 . In this study, we evaluated the use of integrated metabolomic and proteomic analysis to more deeply interrogate the mechanisms of and to develop predictive biomarkers for tPE.…”

Precision medicine for multiple sclerosis promotes preventative medicine

“…These methods can be taken one step further to help develop novel therapeutics. Integration of metabolomics and proteomics with other genomic data may also lead to a more detailed understanding of individual phenotypes that will help advance research and the development of new treatments . Such methods are promising, yet represent the future of MS treatment, not the present.…”