Science Signaling Podcast for 2 August 2016: Patient-specific protein complexes

Abstract

This Podcast features an interview with Adam Schrum and Steven Neier, authors of a Research Article that appears in the 2 August 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about a method for identifying protein-protein interactions in patient tissue samples. The authors used this method to compare signaling complexes downstream of the T cell receptor in T cells from healthy skin with those in T cells from the skin of patients with the autoimmune disease alopecia areata. The study revealed differences in the relative abundance of some protein complexes between T cells from the control and patient groups. This technique could be adapted for use as a diagnostic tool to stratify patients by molecular phenotype and predict the therapeutic strategy that is likely to work best for each patient.Listen to Podcast.