Facts about the Human Proteome

 
  • An average adult contains about 2.5 liters of plasma containing about 250g of plasma protein
 
  • While at least a thousand proteins have been detected in plasma, only a handful are now used as disease diagnostics or as therapeutics
 
  • Proteins in plasma differ in concentration by at least ten billion-fold:
    - serum albumin has a normal concentration range of 35-50 mg/mL (35-50x109 pg/mL) and is measured clinically as an indication of severe liver disease or malnutrition
    - interleukin 6 (IL-6) has a normal range of just 0-5pg/mL, and is measured as a sensitive indicator of inflammation or infection.