Recent Advances and Opportunities in Proteomic Analyses of Tumor Heterogeneity

Abstract

Solid tumor malignancies comprise a highly variable admixture of tumor and non-tumor cellular populations, forming a complex cellular ecosystem and tumor microenvironment. This tumor heterogeneity is not incidental and is known to correlate with poor patient prognosis for many cancer types. Indeed, non-malignant cell populations, such as vascular endothelial and immune cells, are known to play key roles supporting and, in some cases, driving aggressive tumor biology and represent targets of emerging therapeutics, such as anti-angiogenesis and immune checkpoint inhibitors. The biochemical interplay between these cellular populations and how they contribute to molecular tumor heterogeneity remains enigmatic, particularly from the perspective of the tumor proteome. This review focuses on recent advances in proteomics methods, namely imaging mass spectrometry, single cell proteomic techniques, and pre-analytical sample processing that are uniquely positioned to enable detailed analysis of discrete cellular populations within tumors to improve our understanding of tumor proteomic heterogeneity. This review further emphasizes the opportunity afforded by the application of these techniques to the analysis of tumor heterogeneity in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tumor tissues as these represent an invaluable resource for retrospective analyses that are now routinely accessible due to recent technological and methodological advancements in tumor tissue proteomics.

from #ORL-AlexandrosSfakianakis via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2rixiRY