Developments in Cardiovascular Proteomics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. These diseases can occur rapidly as seen in acute myocardial infarction or develop over a number of years as seen in chronic heart failure. The use of a number of drugs for chronic conditions in our aging population is compounding existing rates of CVDs due to cardiotoxicity. Recent advances in proteomics coupled with innovative separation and isolation techniques of subproteomes have vastly improved our knowledge of the cardiac proteome. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is further providing information on spatial distribution of proteins and drugs. Here, we evaluate current advances in separation and detection of proteins, drugs and active metabolites being used to gain insights into mechanisms and diagnostic markers. Taken together these innovative techniques provide the necessary tools to investigate a system biology approach into cardiac disease and toxicity.