The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, announces the launch of a Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC). CPTAC is a comprehensive, coordinated team effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of robust, quantitative, proteomic technologies and workflows.
The NCI created the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer initiative in 2006 to address a lack of technology measurement reproducibility and transferability across laboratories; technology development; and broadly available resources. Analytical advances developed in this initiative and others will now be utilized in CPTAC with the overarching goal to improve our ability to diagnose, treat and prevent cancer. To achieve this goal in a scientifically rigorous manner, CPTAC is to systematically identify proteins that derive from alterations in cancer genomes and related biological processes. The data, assays, protocols, and reagents will be made available to the public.
Genomics initiatives such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, a collaborative effort by NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute, have characterized and sequenced the genomes from several types of cancers. These efforts are providing a catalog of alterations in the cancer genome and setting the stage for the development of more molecular interventions. CPTAC is anticipated to produce a unique continuum that defines the proteins translated from cancer genomes in order to link genotype to proteotype and ultimately to phenotype.
CPTAC is composed of a network of Proteome Characterization Center teams, a Data Center, and a Resource Center.
The CPTAC Proteome Characterization Centers, by project title, are:
Cancer Proteomic Center at Washington University, University of North Carolina and Boise State University
- Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Principal Investigators: Matthew J. C. Ellis, M.B., BChir, Ph.D.; R. Reid Townsend, M.D., Ph.D.
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Principal Investigator: Xian Chen, Ph.D.
- Boise State University, Boise, ID
Principal Investigator: Morgan C. Giddings, Ph.D.
Center for Application of Advanced Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
Principal Investigators: Richard D. Smith, Ph.D.; Karin D. Rodland, Ph.D.
Proteo-Genomic Discovery, Prioritization and Verification of Cancer Biomarkers
- The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA
Principal Investigator: Steven A. Carr, Ph.D.
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Principal Investigator: Amanda G. Paulovich M.D., Ph.D.
Proteome Characterization Center: A GenoProteomics Pipeline for Cancer Biomarkers
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Principal Investigators: Daniel W. Chan, Ph.D.; Zhen Zhang, Ph.D.; Hui Zhang, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt Proteome Characterization Center
- Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Principal Investigator: Daniel C. Liebler, Ph.D.
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For more information on the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium and other programs by the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research, please visit http://proteomics.cancer.gov.
For more information about cancer or the National Cancer Institute, please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.gov or call NCI’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4 CANCER (1-800-422-6237).