ARTICLE | Discovery & Translation
Human proteoform atlas: Aiming for precision medicine’s true north
What mapping the hundreds of versions of every human protein could do for drug and diagnostic development, and what’s getting in the way
September 15, 2025 7:55 PM UTC
Having a map of all human proteoforms would create a step change in precision for drug and diagnostic development, but getting there will require a leap in detection technology, and a consensus around how to assign the biological relevance of individual protein species.
“Proteoform,” a term coined in 2013 by Neil Kelleher’s team at Northwestern University, refers to a specific form of a given protein, including each of its different genetic variants, RNA splice variants, isoforms, combinations of posttranslational modifications, and structural/conformational states...