ProCan® is a new type of facility at the CMRI in Westmead, supported by the ACRF, CINSW and the NSW Government and which is allied with the Cancer Moonshot initiative of the USA. The ultimate goal of ProCan is the timely delivery of molecular data needed by a cancer clinician to make the best possible treatment decision for each individual cancer patient. To achieve this, ProCan utilises a suite of new and disruptive proteomics methodology based on a large-scale technique called SWATH mass spectrometry (SWATH). This provides vastly increased protein analysis throughput and sensitivity. Combined with a new pressure cycling technology (PCT) for preparation of tiny tumour samples, PCT-SWATH is being used for the first time in a high throughput, or industrial, mode to create a global protein map of human cancer.
The goal is to analyse the proteome from about 70,000 human tumours of all cancer types, interrogate the data via supercomputing analysis of SWATH-MS spectra, and correlate the protein expression patterns with a patients’ whole genome sequence and clinical history. The outcomes may be a transformative boost to pathology and identification of the best cancer treatment options with the right drugs or therapy combinations at the right points in time. A greater number of futile treatments can be avoided, in the face of unsuccessful standard therapies. When the ProCan data is combined with other ‘omics and therapy advances it may impact personalised medicine on a greater scale, accelerating the optimum cancer therapies reaching the right patient.
ProCan may not only revolutionise our understanding of how cancers develop, are diagnosed and potentially better treated with existing drugs, but is also expected to reveal new targets for developing future cancer therapeutics.