In molecular biology there has been a central dogma whereby DNA encodes messenger RNA which is then translated into protein. As the field develops, it is becoming obvious that mRNA production does not directly correlate to protein production.

Jonathan Weissman et al at the UCSF have discovered a way to snapshot a cell's protein production. Their technique allows a complete profile of what proteins are being produced, at what stage during production they are and where, if any, a block in protein translation is occuring. The paper published in Science http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1168978 describes a method of purifying ribosomes, the protein translation machinery and then a form of mass-sequencing to identify the mRNA fragments contained within each ribosome.

This breakthrough allows a more detailed view of protein translation and provides access to information not provided in a standard cDNA microarray; the current standard for estimating protein production.

Today, I'd like to explain the different nanotechnologies used in nanomedicine. There are several distinctly different nanotechnologies: Nanowires, Cantilevers, Quantum dots, Nanoshells, Nanoparticles. Nanowires and Cantilevers are mainly used for sensing information. Here’s an example: you can attach complementary DNA or antibodies to a nanowire. When a protein meets its matching partner, the wire gives an electric signal that we can measure. Quantum dots are widely used for imaging; specific designed nanocrystals respond to light by emitting fluorescence. Nanoshells and nanoparticles are the main tool for tissue targeting. These can be constructed to have therapeutic molecules, which can be released at a specific time or location.

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"Viewing each human body as a system of interacting molecular networks and targeting disruptions in the system with nanoscale technologies can transform how disease is understood, attacked and possibly prevented" (James R. Heath, Mark E. Davis, Leroy Hood, Scientific American, February 2009)

Nanomedicine is increasingly regarded as a treatment possibility against various cancer types. The future will surely bring more true more specific therapy strategies against cancer. Heath et al. describes in his article "Nanomedicine targets cancer" how the field of nanomedicine is fast evolving and which strategies against cancer are on the way. Over the next days, I will divide this article into three parts and post my analyses here. First off, I’ll describe how Heath et al. defines Systems Medicine, which includes the basics for the next two coming chapters.
 
It is well known that interaction of protein networks is essential for the function of cells. These networks can be simulated in computers. The transformation of healthy to transformed tissue is resulting in different networks models, which can be visualized with molecular modeling methods. Reviewing most anti-cancer therapies, it can be shown that specific treatments have different efficiencies at different patients. Large-scale measurements of messenger RNA and protein concentrations revealed that molecular models of these protein-networks are different from each other. In that case, one has to make a distinction between these two cancer types. It is subsequently crucial to understand whether the transformation of the protein lead to the disturbed network first or if the interaction between these different proteins were disturbed and therefore resulted in a malfunction of the system.

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