caBIG^® and NCI Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer

The study of the structure and function of proteins and their interactions is a major cornerstone of cancer research, and there is evidence that proteins and peptides may be reliable indicators of cancer processes. As a result, there are potential opportunities for using proteomic technologies to find sentinels for cancer detection, targets for novel therapeutics, and biological markers of treatment response.

However, protein measurement technologies used for research have not proven to be suitable for clinical applications. In order to develop accurate, reliable, and standardized protein measurement technologies that will improve clinical outcomes, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) launched the Clinical Proteomic Technologies Initiative for Cancer (http://proteomics.cancer.gov) in 2005 as a large-scale, coordinated effort among multiple laboratories that are linked with powerful informatics capabilities.

The Clinical Proteomic Technologies Initiative (CPTI) is a 5-year program that will advance the field of cancer proteomics by:

• Building an integrative team framework that networks multiple research laboratories to permit large-scale, real-time exchange and the application of existing and newly developed protein measurement technologies, biological resources, and data dissemination
• Refining and standardizing technologies, reagents, methods, and analysis platforms that will ensure reliable and reproducible separation, capture, identification, quantification, and validation of protein measurements from complex biological mixtures
• Evaluating new technological approaches to separate and recognize proteins of significance to the molecular and cellular events that occur during the process of cancer development

CPTI activities will produce large quantities of data that must be usable by researchers within the initiative’s network as well as by other laboratories throughout the country. CPTI data will therefore be made available in standardized, caBIG^®-compatible formats, so that all researchers can access and interpret data accurately.

Over time, caBIG^® is expected to enable researchers to easily exchange and unambiguously interpret proteomic data.

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