Proteoformics: Current status and future perspectives

作者：Zheng Fang, Yanjun Zhang, Xiaoxia Feng, Na Li, Liang Chen, Xianquan Zhan · 发表于：Journal of Proteomics · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jprot.2025.105524 · 被引用次数：12 · 研究领域：Advanced Proteomics Techniques and Applications

Proteoforms represent the ultimate structural/functional forms of a gene product, defined by multiple factors, including amino acid sequences, post-translational modifications, spatial conformations, and interactions with other molecules. The human proteoform diversity significantly exceeds the number of human genes/transcripts, emphasizing the need for advanced analytical methods to characterize this complexity. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (2DE-LC/MS) and top-down MS (TD-MS) are complementary to detect, identify, and quantify the large-scale proteoforms. The emerging AI tools for structural biology such as AlphaFold 3 and D-I-TASSER will enable proteoformics to be high-throughput and precisely predict spatial conformations and molecular interactions. Integrating the large-scale experimental data derived from 2DE-LC/MS and TD-MS with AI-driven high-throughput structural analysis paves the way to deeply understand proteoform diversity and functionality. The combination of advanced 2DE-LC/MS, TD-MS, and AI-driven structural analysis represents a pivotal advancement in proteoformics. This integrated approach enables the comprehensive profiling of proteoforms, providing critical insights into their roles in health care. Such advancements hold promise for predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine, particularly through biomarker discovery and therapeutic target identification. Future developments in high-throughput capabilitie...