Scientists and oncologists at the National Cancer Institute share their thoughts on the NEXT HORIZON IN PRECISION ONCOLOGY – proteogenomics.
In a recently published article on April 1, 2021 in the journal Cell, Drs. Henry Rodriguez, Jean Claude Zenklusen, Louis Staudt, James Doroshow, and Douglas Lowy at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, examine cancer through the lens of comprehensive molecular characterization of tumors from cancer patients. They describe the significant contributions of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) to multidisciplinary collaborative team science and precision oncology, and make the case that proteogenomics needs to be fully integrated into clinical trials and patient care. This approach of genomic and proteomic markers, also highlighted in an FDA draft guidance of enrichment strategies that drug developers can use to gain insights into the safety and efficacy of drugs, will further enable precision oncology to deliver the right cancer treatment to the right patient at the right dose and at the right time.
Recognizing the significant impact that CPTAC has made and is poised to continue making in proteogenomics cancer research, Cell Press has created an online space dedicated to archiving CPTAC research(link is external) that has and will be published in its family of journals. These papers provide strong resource-based frameworks to better understand a range of human cancers through the lens of precision oncology and will be valuable in informing effective treatment options.
What Is Proteogenomics?
Combining information gathered from genomics with transcriptomics and proteomics, allows researchers to take a more comprehensive look at each alteration of a tumor, including the identification, localization, and functional analysis of resultant proteins and their relationship to the larger tumor environment.
Proteogenomics works to enhance the cancer genome biology by helping prioritize genomic alterations, subtyping tumors with proteomic features, illuminating alterations to PTMs responsible for the dysregulation of cancer signaling networks, and improving the understanding of drug response and resistance to therapies.