Transcending the biomarker mindset: deciphering disease mechanisms at the single cell level.

The application of proteomics to disease research promises to enhance the understanding and treatment of many human maladies through the identification of molecular profiles associated with each disease. However, although much is made of the utility of molecular signatures as markers of disease state, insufficient emphasis is often placed on the simultaneous need for biological mechanism inquiry. Focused and detailed analyses of disease-associated signaling networks have the potential to be more mechanistically informative than large-scale proteomic profiling approaches, providing insight into the cellular processes involved in pathogenesis, disease progression and therapeutic resistance; while still providing diagnostic or clinical management direction. Phospho-specific flow cytometry provides a method for the analysis of pathological signaling networks, enabling the investigation of disease mechanisms at the single-cell level.