Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, heterogenous, progressive, and debilitating disease. The objective of Dr. Qureshi et al.’s research is to identify protein biomarkers reflective of MS disease activity and progression. To do this, over 1400 proteins in serum from healthy controls and MS patients across time were first screened with Olink® Explore 1536. A custom panel of 21 candidate biomarkers with absolute quantitation using Olink Target was then developed to analyze samples from three independent cohorts.
Using data from Olink technology, mass spectrometry, patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and radiography, multivariate models outperformed the best univariate biomarker for several disease endpoints. For example, active and stable MS patients were classified with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.773 (p-value < 0.001), which is superior to the single protein biomarker of neurological damage, neurofilament light chain (NFL), with an AUC of 0.663.
Their data highlight the importance of multiomics research, and may help improve patient outcomes by providing deeper insights into sub-clinical disease activity and silent disease progression for earlier patient interventions.
The webinar covers the following points:
- Olink Explore 1536 and a custom Olink panel were used in a biomarker study for multiple sclerosis with serum samples
- The process for developing a custom Olink assay is discussed, such as validating assay performance
- Multivariate models for disease activity that included Olink data outperformed the best univariate model
