Protein biomarkers may predict severe traumatic brain injury mortality
- Neurology , Protein biomarkers , Proteomics
- Read time: 4 minutes
An exploratory study investigating prognostic protein biomarkers for mortality in severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) patients has identified 3 plasma proteins that may serve as point-of-care tests for patients with sTBI. Using Olink PEA technology, which is well suited for the study of blood plasma, Dr Fraser and his colleagues found that these 3 plasma proteins even outperform current biomarker tests currently used for this purpose.
The use of protein biomarkers in the clinical evaluation of TBI
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability the world over. As TBI is clinically diagnosed on a spectrum (mild to severe), the ability to accurately predict the outcome of a patient presenting with TBI would greatly help clinicians to determine an appropriate course of therapy, make available necessary resources, and better inform family members and substitute decision-makers.
However, due to the heterogeneity of TBIs, current prognostic methods are very imprecise, and methods like standard neuroimaging and physiological grading techniques give only limited information.
It is no wonder then that the use of brain injury biomarkers in blood has been the focus of recent TBI research. While panels developed from these biomarkers have improved outcome prediction models, no single blood biomarker for predicting mortality and poor outcome in severe TBI has yet been identified.
Pilot study uses Olink PEA technology to explore over 1000 plasma protein biomarkers
In this pilot study, Dr Fraser and his colleagues used 15 Olink Target 96 and 48 panels to measure 1161 proteins in 20 blood plasma samples. Ten of these samples were collected from severe TBI patients on their first day of admittance to the ICU at London Health Sciences Centre, in Canada.
These samples were compared to ten healthy controls matched for age and sex. The mortality rate for the sample cohort was 40%. All samples were also assayed for two common brain injury biomarkers, NSE and S100ß using commercially available ELISA assays.
Data analysis involved not only identifying which proteins are the most differentiated between the two sample cohorts but homed in on potential biomarkers that could serve to predict mortality in severe TBI patients.
Analysis outcome identifies protein biomarkers that outperform current protein biomarkers used for TBI
Overall, there was a great difference in elevated protein profiles between the sTBI and healthy cohort, with sTBI patient proteomes being high in markers of vascular pathology, inflammation, cell survival, and macrophage activation. Machine learning identified the top 15 proteins underlying this difference, 3 of which were especially powerful in predicting patient mortality.
These three proteins were vWF, WIF-1, and CSF-1. By combining results from either vWF and WIF-1, or vWF and CSF-1, the researchers were able to predict with 100% accuracy ICU mortality, far outperforming mortality prediction of NSE and S100ß. Despite the exploratory nature of this study and the small sample size, the data suggests that these two protein combinations have the potential to become standardized point of care tests with further validation in a larger cohort.
Fraser et al. 2021, Novel severe traumatic brain injury blood outcome biomarkers identified with proximity extension assay, Clin Chem Lab Meth. DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2021-0103
How the proteome behaves in healthy individuals
Clinical research, Multiomics
To achieve the goal of precision medicine, not only do different molecular profiles need to be understood in disease populations, but they must also be understood in the context of healthy populations.
Key proteomics publications from 2020
Proteomics
Welcome to the first post of the all-new weekly Olink to Science! Our customer survey revealed that you would like to know more about the many publications, research, and other science happening at Olink, therefore this blog aims to do just that: keep you informed on the exciting science taking place with our technology.
Protein biomarkers are crucial in early detection of cancer
Clinical research, Oncology, Protein biomarkers
A central premise of precision medicine is to identify biomarkers indicative of disease transitions early on. This is especially important in cancer where early treatment intervention could increase a patient’s chance of survival and reduce the probability of cancer recurrence.
Using PEA and RNA-Seq to study disease pathology
Clinical research, Proteomics
The following study illustrates how transcriptomics and proteomics complement one another to clarify the pathology of a complex, and little understood disease. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic skin condition affecting up to 20% of children and 7-10% of adults, depending on the population.
Olink protein biomarker panel indicates fermented foods fight inflammation
Inflammation, Proteomics
Could food be used to fight chronic disease?
Study identifies proteins involved in immunotherapy response
Oncology, Proteomics
'Ultimately, it is all about understanding and treating patients better in the future.'
Proteins diagnostic of lung cancer up to 5 years before disease onset
Oncology
An earlier Olink to Science blog post covered some amazing research that found that certain blood protein biomarkers have the potential to predict cancer up to 3 years before diagnosis. This may also be the case for lung cancer, as detailed in a recent study by Dagnino and her colleagues, where elevated levels of CDCP1 were detected in participants of a cohort who later developed the disease.
Utilizing proteogenomics technology for novel drug target discovery
Drug discovery & development
High-throughput multiplexed proteomic technology is leading the way to the latest developments in pre-clinical disease analysis in drug discovery. The pharmaceutical industry is now increasing its efforts in the discovery of novel drug targets by using protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs), which allows for a more confident inference of disease causality and associated protein regulation.
Developing a high-performance biomarker panel for Alzheimer’s disease
Clinical research, Neurology, Protein biomarkers
A simple search of the term ‘scourge of Alzheimer’s Disease’ brings up over half a million website hits. A major disease, about 15% of us that reach the age of 67 to 74, and 44% of those 75 to 84 will develop AD.
How proteomics helped diabetic kidney disease research advance
Clinical research, Proteomics
Dr. Krolewski and his team at the Harvard Medical School found 56 proteins to be significant in diabetic kidney disease patients. Potentially, these could serve as prognostic biomarkers for disease progression and treatment response. This is how adding proteomics to the methodologies elevated their research.
2947
Biomarker assays
~881 million
Protein data points generated
1182
Publications listed on website