e. disease progression. This shows that this method can both diagnose and follow the disease by using blood samples only (H.

Yoo, personal communication). In addition, this method provides the capability to distinguish between several different neurodegenerative diseases, that is, to stratify these diseases and follow the body’s response to therapy and reoccurrences. Macromolecules have to meet certain criteria to be considered ideal biomarkers.12 First, these markers must exist and be detectable in the blood since the blood Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is in contact with and bathes all the body’s organs. The blood, which is readily available, gives us access to all the body’s organs, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical including organs that are ordinarily difficult to access, such as the brain. Second, the group of organ-specific markers must be multi-parametric

so that multiple networks and features from each organ can be assessed. Third, the array of biomarkers for each organ will be able to assess all diseases in a given organ simultaneously because they sample many different biological networks. These biomarkers do not necessarily have to be only proteins. Biomarkers can be other biomolecules such as mRNAs, miRNAs, metabolites, or other macromolecules.12,15 The assays using these markers must always be Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical done in a longitudinal manner, making each person his/her own control for the changing levels of biomarkers in the blood. The longitudinal method of testing will enable one to follow transitions from health into disease. In addition to organ-specific markers, organelle-specific markers should be sought to reflect Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical direct or indirect network disease perturbations such as cell death. Both cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins can be used for this purpose. Additionally, membrane-cleaved proteins as well as secreted proteins will provide fundamental insights.

In a mouse study that we conducted on the toxicity of acetaminophen, a classical hepatotoxic substance, perturbations were found in seven other organs as well.13 This shows the power of organ-specific Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical markers that enable us to see how organs actually communicate with each other as a network. New emerging technologies are needed to explore and exploit the new dimensions of patient data space that is being created. In this article, three relevant issues will be discussed: 1) the integration of genetics and genomics through certainly family genome sequencing; GSK-3 2) the creation of mass spectrometry-based new assays that will enable the investigation of all human proteins; and 3) novel clinical assays that open new dimensions of patient data space. FAMILY GENOME SEQUENCING The sequencing of families will be a revolutionary tool for medicine and human genetics in the future. The first family that we sequenced was a family of four in which the parents were normal but each of the children had a different genetic disease.