• Protein biomarkers are crucial in early detection of cancer

    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.

    While many cancer biomarker studies have compared cancer patients with healthy individuals, none have studied such biomarkers in healthy individuals who were later diagnosed with cancer. Such was the case in the study by Magis et. al., who analyzed 1156 blood plasma proteins using Olink panels in a cohort of 79 individuals who were part of a lifestyle intervention program conducted by Arivale Inc in Seattle, WA.

    Key proteins elevated years before diagnosis

    Data collection took place over 3 years, by which time 10 individuals reported a cancer diagnosis. Examination of blood plasma proteins in these patients compared to the other 69 ‘healthy controls’ revealed that certain key proteins were elevated up to 3 years before diagnosis.

    Even further, one protein was especially over-expressed in 3 patients who were diagnosed with metastatic cancer. The protein, CEACAM5, was an outlier as early as 2 years before these patients were diagnosed, irrespective of tissue type. RNA-seq data taken from metastatic, non-metastatic, and healthy breast, pancreatic, and lung tissue verified the blood plasma results, finding that CEACAM5 was elevated only in metastatic tissue regardless of type.

    Longitudinal trajectories for the outlier proteins CEACAM5

    Figure: Longitudinal trajectories for the outlier proteins CEACAM5 (a), CALCA (b), DLK1 (c), and ERBB2 (d) in patients who were later diagnosed with cancer. Plus signs indicate when the patient was diagnosed. Other trajectories marked in grey represent the trajectories for other samples for that protein in the cohort (Magis et al., 2020).

    Other proteins were, however, over-expressed in certain types of cancers. The proteins CALCA and DLK1 were outliers in participants with metastatic pancreatic cancer over a year before their diagnosis. CALCA is a biomarker for medullary thyroid cancer, and both proteins have been linked to tumor growth.

    In participants with breast cancer, up to 43 proteins changed in their expression from baseline to elevated levels. One protein, ERBB2 (HERC2), rapidly increased from very low to very high levels of expression between 10 and 4 months before diagnosis.

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    One protein, ERBB2 (HERC2), rapidly increased from very low to very high levels of expression between 10 and 4 months before diagnosis.

    While the prospective design of the study meant that there were a limited number of cancer cases available for analysis, this study is the first to present longitudinal biomarker data collected before a patient has been diagnosed with the disease.

    Further work needs to be carried out to validate these results, but this and other studies that focus more on disease occurrence in healthy populations rather than comparing the two is a big step forward in the realization of precision medicine. This is just another example of how Olink and researchers are accelerating proteomics together.

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    Magis et al. (2020), Untargeted longitudinal analysis of a wellness cohort identifies markers of metastatic cancer years prior to diagnosis, Scientific reports.

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    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.