Figure 6.

Personalized outcome risk prediction of colon cancers is a specific example of high value “clinical need” with possible proteomics solutions. (a) Two patients with colon cancers appear – to the best of today’s diagnostic capabilities – identical by demographics, histo-morphology, stage, and genomics, yet have vastly different survival outcomes (patient on left cured by surgery vs. patient on right died of progressive disease). (b) Proteomics analyses may reveal subtypes of previously indistinguishable cancers (as in CPTAC). The patients from (a) fall into two different proteomic subtypes of microsatellite stable (MSS) colon cancer (green and orange clusters, see arrows), illustrating that proteomics “sees” more than traditional molecular diagnostics. For comparison, clusters of other cancer types (pancreatic adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumor, microsatellite unstable (MSI) colon cancer, metastatic colon cancer) and benign parenchyma (colon, pancreas, liver) are shown.