Is the time ripe for kidney tissue proteomics?

In this viewpoint article, the importance of renal tissue proteomics in health and disease is explored. The analysis of the urinary proteome and the potential clinical application of these findings are progressing. However, additional benefit would be gained from a detailed parallel exploration of the proteome of the renal parenchyma, both in models and clinical samples. With this aim, we will briefly summarize the existing literature, compare the findings and propose future tasks. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of studying specific cellular compartments and cell types within the kidney. Recent technical advances are also discussed. It is anticipated that the combination of such technologies, especially proteomic analysis of material extracted by laser capture microdissection from paraffin embedded tissue or direct mass spectrometrical tissue imaging, will revolutionize the field.