Shotgun proteomics‐based clinical testing for diagnosis and classification of amyloidosis

The field of proteomics has long promised to deliver tools that positively impact patient care and clinical outcomes. Shotgun proteomics, in particular, with its capability for characterizing thousands of proteins in complex clinical samples has been a leading tool in the search for biomarkers and proteomic-based diagnostic tests. In the Special Feature, Jason Theis and co-workers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN provide a first-hand perspective of challenges encountered to develop and implement a shotgun proteomics-based diagnostic assay for sub-typing forms of amyloidoisis. Using shotgun proteomics to identify amyloid proteins from microdissected biopsy tissue the diagnostic is able to characterize more than 20 subtypes of amyloidosis. Developing the assay is only one step to clinical acceptance and the authors and discuss how they have been able to make this key transition.