Onco-proteogenomics: Multi-omics level data integration for accurate phenotype prediction

The overall goal of translational oncology is to identify molecular alterations indicative of cancer or of responsiveness to specific therapeutic regimens. While next-generation sequencing has played a pioneering role in this quest, the latest advances in proteomic technologies promise to provide a holistic approach to the further elucidation of tumor biology. Genetic information may be written in DNA and flow from DNA to RNA to protein, according to the central dogma of molecular biology, but the observed phenotype is dictated predominantly by the DNA protein coding region-derived proteotype. Proteomics holds the potential to bridge the gap between genotype and phenotype, because the powerful analytical tool of mass spectrometry has reached a point of maturity to serve this purpose effectively. This integration of omics data has given birth to the novel field of onco-proteogenomics, which has much to offer to precision medicine and personalized patient management. Here, we review briefly how each omics technology has individually contributed to cancer research, discuss technological and computational advances that have contributed to the realization of onco-proteogenomics, and summarize current and future translational applications.