Proteomics in Drug Development: the Dawn of a New Era?

Mass spectrometry offers the potential of acquiring high resolution data depicting the functional status of a group of healthy or disease individuals, according to the different conditions. As most of the drugs are currently targeting proteins, proteomics has a dual value, both in the discovery of new molecules as therapeutic targets, but also as a methodology to perform high throughput drug profiling. As there is an evident need for drugs to be improved in terms of efficacy, a mechanistic insight for downstream effectors can be valuable in order to predict side effects and resistance mechanisms. Recently developed assays, like thermal proteome profiling enables comprehensive drug target profiling and is, therefore, of high value in drug discovery. In this review, we have conducted a systematic literature search and present the most prominent proteomics studies as implicated in assisting drug discovery and development. Focus is placed on investigations that are closer to implementation, therefore particular emphasis is given in studies conducted in human diseased population and further verified in vitro or in vivo. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.