Diagnostic Molecular Pathology: Discovery of Disease Biomarkers

Discovery of clinically significant biomarkers has stimulated the development of therapies and treatment. Transmission of disease information from cells/tissues to biofluids (blood, urine etc.) often occurs through the transfer proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, metabolites, and other related biomolecules. The genetic alteration (if any) in the disease state can also up- or down-regulate some critically important biomolecules suggesting their pathological significance as potential biomarkers. Therefore, recording the molecular fingerprint of those biomolecules from complex biofluids, cells/tissue using different mass spectrometric techniques would enable us to identify the appropriate biomarker(s) associated to a disease. The measurement of the dynamics of concentration fluctuation of those species would provide us the essential information of disease progression, helping us to detect a disease in the early stage.