Recent advances in stable isotope labeling based techniques for proteome relative quantification

•Isotope labeling based method is most widely applied for proteome quantification.•Merits and drawbacks of various kinds of labeling methods were described.•The development of isotope labeling methods in the future was prospected. The large scale relative quantification of all proteins expressed in biological samples under different states is of great importance for discovering proteins with important biological functions, as well as screening disease related biomarkers and drug targets. Therefore, the accurate quantification of proteins at proteome level has become one of the key issues in protein science. Herein, the recent advances in stable isotope labeling based techniques for proteome relative quantification were reviewed, from the aspects of metabolic labeling, chemical labeling and enzyme-catalyzed labeling. Furthermore, the future research direction in this field was prospected.