Abstract
BackgroundEarly detection of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) crucially demands highly reliable markers. Growing evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles carry tumor cell-specific cargo suitable as protein markers in cancer. Quantitative proteomic profiling of circulating microvesicles and exosomes can be a high-throughput platform for discovery of novel molecular insights and putative markers. Hence, this study aimed to investigate proteome dynamics of plasma-derived microvesicles and exosomes in newly diagnosed SCLC patients to improve early detection.MethodsPlasma-derived microvesicles and exosomes from 24 healthy controls and 24 SCLC patients were isolated from plasma by either high-speed- or ultracentrifugation. Proteins derived from these extracellular vesicles were quantified using label-free mass spectrometry and statistical analysis was carried out aiming at identifying significantly altered protein expressions between SCLC patients and healthy controls. Furthermore, significantly expressed proteins were subjected to functional enrichment analysis to identify biological pathways implicated in SCLC pathogenesis.ResultsBased on fold change (FC) ≥ 2 or ≤ 0.5 and AUC ≥ 0.70 (p < 0.05), we identified 10 common and 16 and 17 unique proteins for microvesicles and exosomes, respectively. Among these proteins, we found dysregulation of coagulation factor XIII A (Log2 FC = − 1.1, p = 0.0003, AUC = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69–0.96) and complement factor H-related protein 4 (Log2 FC = 1.2, p = 0.0005, AUC = 0.82, 95% CI; 0.67–0.97) in SCLC patients compared to healthy individuals. Our data may indicate a novel tumor-suppressing role of blood coagulation and involvement of complement activation in SCLC pathogenesis.ConclusionsIn comparing SCLC patients and healthy individuals, several differentially expressed proteins were identified. This is the first study showing that circulating extracellular vesicles may encompass specific proteins with potential diagnostic attributes for SCLC, thereby opening new opportunities as novel non-invasive markers.
Highlights
Detection of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) crucially demands highly reliable markers
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
The diagnosis is based on computed tomography (CT) scan and cytology obtained by fineneedle aspiration (FNA) biopsy from the suspected lesion
Summary
Detection of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) crucially demands highly reliable markers. Growing evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles carry tumor cell-specific cargo suitable as protein markers in cancer. Quantitative proteomic profiling of circulating microvesicles and exosomes can be a high-throughput platform for discovery of novel molecular insights and putative markers. This study aimed to investigate proteome dynamics of plasma-derived microvesicles and exosomes in newly diagnosed SCLC patients to improve early detection. Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer-related deaths, and the second and third most prevalent cancer in Europe among men and women, respectively [1]. Pedersen et al Clinical Proteomics (2022) 19:2 that accounts for ~15% of lung cancers and is characterized by an aggressive progression to early metastases [2, 3]. To minimize delays in diagnosis and improve patient safety, better diagnostic procedures are warranted
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