Proteomics and peritoneal dialysis: early days but clear potential

The application of proteomics (the study of protein products expressed by the genome) has become one of the leading post-genomic technologies given the increased understanding of the central role of proteins and protein–protein interactions in all aspects of cellular function [2]. Systematic global identification and quantification of proteins can, not only inform improved biomedical understanding of a particular system in healthy or diseased individuals, but also be used for protein biomarker discovery. The most popular of the many proteomic strategies available are summarized in Figure 1 and, whilst two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) gel-based approach remains popular, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gel electrophoresis then liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (geLC-MS) approaches are now preferred as state-of-the-art