[Micro-array based technologies to study the proteome: technological progress and applications].

Abstract

Since these twenty last years, there is an increasing interest for large-scale analysis of biological function. In the field of transcriptome, the emergence of microarray-based technologies and the design of DNA biochips allow high-throughput studies of RNA expression in cell and tissue at a given moment. In the field of proteome, methods of reference are still the 2D electrophoresis followed by analysis with mass spectrometry. Technological progress makes it possible to apply microarray methods to proteomics study : they are protein biochips or protein arrays. Expression analysis of proteins in a cell or a tissue in simultaneous and highly parallel way give further information for large-scale studies of signaling pathway. Numerous applications of protein microarray-based assays are described in basic biological research and in medical research to identify diagnostic biomarkers of inflammatory and cancerous pathologies and to find out news drugs and new therapeutic targets. This review summarizes concrete applications of microarray-based technology in the field of proteome, describes fundamental technical stages in protein array development and highlights critical points which will be useful to improve this emerging proteomic method.