Proteomic Point of View to Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

This chapter covers different mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomic approaches utilized in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine studies. Tissue engineering seeks for materials that resemble to the original one from structural, compositional, and functional aspects; therefore, it is crucial exploring molecular mechanism occurred in extracellular matrix (ECM) to reveal specific ECM protein cues. The necessity of proteomic analyses to investigate ECM proteins, i.e., matrisome, will be deeply clarified. The importance of choosing proper sample preparation technique and how to tackle the problems encountered during handling of matrix material such as tissue, cell, or extracted ECM molecules are highlighted issues. Within this chapter, an opinion about what kind of instrumental setups can be used to achieve successive results in terms of protein variety will be given. Developments in the field of mass spectrometry and analytical chemistry improve the quality of proteomic data which brings in biological insights into the cell microenvironment. Gaining information through proteomic analyses can lead to expanding clinical application of tissue engineering by designing new biomimetic scaffolds or identifying novel diagnostic markers.