Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYGN - news) announced today that it has introduced ProSpec(TM), a powerful new drug target identification and validation technology. This new proteomics technology complements the disease pathway discovery capability of Myriad's ProNet(TM) technologies with the use of mass spectrometry to identify protein complexes. Complexes of interacting proteins are required for virtually all biological processes in the cell. The unique combination of Myriad's ProNet version of yeast two-hybrid and mass spectrometry technologies creates an unparalleled tool for drug discovery and development.
As a leader in proteomics, Myriad introduced ProSpec to better understand how proteins function in human disease. ProSpec complements Myriad's ProNet technology by enabling detection of extracellular protein interactions and protein complexes containing proteins that require modification for the interactions to occur. In addition, ProSpec uses the mass spectrometer to deliver structural information about three dimensional protein complexes. This information, coupled with ProNet data, may lead to considerable acceleration in the discovery of novel drug targets for both treatment and prevention of human disease.
``ProSpec is a giant leap forward in creating real value for drug developers out of information from the human genome,'' said Peter Meldrum, President and Chief Executive Officer of Myriad Genetics, Inc. ``Myriad's internal drug discovery programs and those of our pharmaceutical partners will both employ high-throughput protein interaction technology and mass spectrometry for three dimensional protein complexes to identify important disease pathways and promising drug targets in those pathways.''
No other proteomics company, to the Company's knowledge, has introduced an integrated pathway discovery technology that incorporates both yeast two-hybrid and mass spectrometry tools. The ProSpec technology is particularly amenable to large-scale protein identification projects.
Only 5% of the human genome has an obviously important function. This 5% of the DNA is the portion that codes for proteins. First generation proteomics technologies provided basic protein information such as the sequence of the protein and the relative quantity of the proteins in disease tissues. Protein interaction technologies, such as Myriad's ProNet, are a major advancement in that they provide an understanding of the complete disease pathway and the cellular processes that result in disease. ProNet identifies key regulators and potential drug targets in the disease pathway. These disease pathway proteins form three-dimensional complexes in which portions of proteins may be buried in the complex and unavailable for binding. ProSpec builds upon pathway identification by identifying the entire set of proteins that form multiprotein complexes. The knowledge of these proteins and the complexes they form is highly valuable for determining the druggability of a protein. Druggable targets are those that can be addressed with vaccines, small molecules, therapeutic antibodies or protein therapy approaches.
ProSpec not only identifies the set of proteins that make up a multiprotein complex, it is also effective in identifying protein interactions that require post-translational modification. For example, certain proteins require methylation or phosphorylation by enzymes before they can perform their functional role in the cell. These interactions can be detected with ProSpec although they are often invisible to other detection methods. ProSpec is highly sensitive and is amenable to very high throughput. One of the most appealing characteristics of the ProSpec technology is that it identifies protein interactions as they occur in vivo, in the natural state inside the human cell... |
