About this Research Topic

Background

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an indispensable analytical tool for the identification and characterization of proteins and peptides in various biological specimens. In recent years, there has been significant progress in the development and design of instruments that enable high-throughput MS/MS applications. Most of these MS instruments are equipped with Orbitrap mass analyzers which have the ability to produce thousands of spectra requiring advanced software solutions for correct MS/MS spectra matching. This is especially important and crucial in the field of clinical proteomics where proteins and peptides are used as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and systems biology.

Latest technological developments facilitate proteins to be more thoroughly screened and examined in the context of drug discovery and development. Proteins are large and complex molecules that regulate almost all biological processes in the human body. Moreover, they are structural and functional units of the cell. This means that comprehensive analysis of the proteins provide a unique opportunity to get closer to the mechanism of action, function and interaction with other biomolecules. In this way, abnormal changes of the protein activity altered during disease state could reveal a snapshot of the triggered molecular pathways and potential drug targets. Nowadays, almost all drugs are targeting proteins, hence making proteomics of enormous importance in the biomedical and pharmaceutical research field. In the past, efficient drug development has been risky and challenging due to the low rate of action of the developed drugs on the altered pathways in the pre-clinical and clinical phases. Therefore, the scope of mass spectrometry-based proteomics in drug discovery and development is to accelerate discoveries of potential drug targets that could be a step forward to the implementation.

This Research Topic will focus on:

• Identification of new drug targets using proteomics and mass spectrometry in pre-clinical and clinical trials

• Assessment of proteomic datasets that reveal altered mechanism of action and downstream effectors

• Evaluation of the drug effects on the proteome profiles

• Application of novel computational approaches for drug design and discovery processes

• Bioinformatics methods for mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis

Keywords: mass spectroemtry, proteomics, application, drug targets, diseases

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