• CPTAC
  • The Broad Institute of
    MIT and Harvard
  • Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Purdue University
  • UCSF
  • Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Advanced Proteomics Platforms and Computational Sciences
• Proteomic Reagents and resources Core
• Completed Program

Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment for Cancer (CPTAC)

Current cancer proteomic research is hampered by a lack of standardized technologies and methodologies, which are critically needed in order to more effectively discover and validate proteins and peptides relevant to cancer, or "biomarkers. To address this critical need, the NCI established a collaborative network of five Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment for Cancer (CPTAC) teams in September, 2006. The CPTAC network's ultimate goal is to enable all researchers conducting cancer-related protein research at different laboratories to effectively use proteomic technologies and methodologies to directly compare and analyze their work. This should lead in turn to improved diagnostics, therapies and even prevention of cancer.

The multidisciplinary CPTAC teams are conducting rigorous assessment of two major technologies currently used to analyze proteins and peptides – mass spectrometry and affinity capture platforms. Specific objectives include:

• Evaluating the performance of proteomic technology platforms and standardizing approaches to developing applications of these platforms
• Assessing proteomic platforms for their ability to analyze cancer-relevant proteomic changes in human clinical specimens
• Establishing systematic ways to standardize proteomic protocols and data analysis among different laboratories
• Developing and implementing uniform algorithms for sharing bioinformatics and proteomic data and analytical/data mining tools
• Developing well-characterized material and bioinformatics resources for the entire cancer research community

For more information about the CPTAC teams, click here.