An open letter to labs interested in proteomics:
On Aug. 9th, Alex Apffel asked if anyone had a list of proteins present in
serum and their concentrations. I offered to FAX him 5 pages of relevant
tables from a reference text. Since then, I've received 8 requests for the
FAXed tables from other groups. Apparently this is a reference whose time
has come. Here's the reference:
1) Documenta Geigy: Scientific Tables (7th edition, edited by K. Diem and C.
Lentner), 1970; published by Geigy Pharmaceuticals (div. of Ciba-Geigy Corp.).
NOTE: This text is 810 pages long, and is full of tables of the identify
and concentration of amino acids and other small molecules in serum,
cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and other biological fluids, as well as tables of
all sorts involving protein identities and concentrations. You can find used
copies for sale via the Internet for about $ 10, although some of them may be
excerpted tables rather than the full text.
2) 8th edition of the same reference (C. Lentner, ed.; 1981). Evidently the
text was split up into several volumes for this edition. Vol. 1 is Units of
measurement; Body Fluids; Composition of the Body; Nutrition. Vol. 3 is
Physical Chemistry; Composition of Blood; Hematology; Somatometric Data.
I don't know if there's a later edition of this text. Ciba-Geigy used to
give this text away to new medical students. That's the hard way to get one.
The easy way was the route Mark Lively and I took, which was to marry a
medical student. I don't know if Novartis has any current dealings with this
series. A good place to look for reference texts of this sort would be a
medical school bookstore.
Suggestion to those heading for the proteomics gold rush:
Biovision (www.biovision.de) has spent a couple of years making an
exhaustive list of all the proteins and peptides present in biological fluids
of all sorts, in both normal and pathogenic states. People from several
companies have told me that they plan to enter this field, not knowing that
it's already been well-explored and that there are extensive data bases
available for sale. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Andy Alpert
PolyLC Inc.
9151 Rumsey Road, ste. 180
Columbia, MD 21045
tel: (410) 992-5400
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