Creative Proteomics Blog

Summary

October 24-25^th, the fourth reverse phase protein array workshop was organized in Paris. The purpose of the Global RPPA workshop is to get RPPA laboratories, vendors and users to discuss some results, the latest technology platforms, best practices and the future challenges and opportunities.

Body

October 24-25^th, 2014, The Fourth Reverse Phrases Protein Array Workshop was held in Paris by Institut Curie. It brought together 100 participants from 16 different countries. The meeting was started with a plenary session, which is made by Dr. Lance Liotta. He expressed the history and the future of this technology from its invention to its use in the clinics.

There were two parts of the meeting—the practical aspects of the RPPA technology and its scientific and clinical applications. The evolution of the technology was an important point in the practical sessions. They had discussed the approaches for the multiplexing and combination with bead-based technologies. The aim was to study more proteins simultaneously on a large amount of samples. Hot topics in this meeting included how the technology moves towards large multi-center projects involving hundreds of samples and analytes and an entirely new application---protein-protein interaction put forward by Lance Liotta. The protein-protein interaction can be used in many biological aspects.

Factors that regulate protein-protein interactions

Protein concentration, which in turn is affected by expression levels and degradation rates.

Protein affinity for proteins or other binding ligands

Ligands concentrations

Presence of other proteins, nucleic acids and ions

Electric fields around proteins

Occurrence of covalent modifications

The protein-protein interaction as a therapeutic target

The modulation of protein-protein interaction is getting more and more attention from scientists. Some properties, such as, allosteric sites and hotspots, have been incorporated into drug-design strategies. The relevance of PPI as a putative therapeutic target for the development of new treatments is particularly evident in cancer.

Protein, as a very important substance in the body, participates into many interactions of biological process. It has been used to be the key therapeutic target to prevent the invasion of bacterial into cells. So the study of the protein-protein interaction is very important for the researches on drug. And it cannot be only efficient but also controllable.

The meeting---the fourth The Fourth Reverse Phrases Protein Array Workshop was successfully held in Paris. The next meeting will be organized on October 12-13, 2015 in George Mason University's Science and Technology Campus. It is hopeful that the new results and platforms in this technology have a progressing future.