Clinical applications of proteomics: proteomic pattern diagnostics.

Clinical proteomics is an exciting new subdiscipline of proteomics that involves bedside application of proteomic technologies. A new and potentially revolutionary technology and approach for early disease detection, surveillance, and monitoring is proteomic pattern diagnostics. Using this approach, high throughput mass spectrometry generates a proteomic fingerprint of a given body fluid, such as serum or nipple fluid aspirants (NAF), in less than 30 s.