Abstract 7092: Cancer biomarker discovery with scalable biofluid proteomics
Authors: Gutierrez Danielle B. , Moore Jessica L. , Arivalagan Jaison , Louie Tiffany , Wilkinson Leslie , Clemens Ray 
Published: March 2024

Biofluid proteomics opens opportunities for the discovery of early detection, diagnostic, and prognostic cancer biomarkers through non-invasive or minimally invasive screening. Plasma and serum are accessible sample types, however, the high dynamic range of proteins creates analytical challenges for the sensitive detection of potential biomarkers. In this work, we compare two proteomic approaches for large-scale cancer biomarker discovery: the Olink Proximity Extension Assay and the Seer Proteograph Product Suite. Olink Explore 3072 is an immunoassay that gains specificity by using dual antibody recognition to measure approx. 3,000 proteins in each sample. Antibody pairs are tagged with oligonucleotides, which hybridize and are amplified before measurement by next generation sequencing. Seer Proteograph is an enrichment strategy that uses a proprietary mix of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles with affinity for certain amino acids and functional groups in native state proteins. The resulting peptides are measured using untargeted mass spectrometry to identify proteins at the peptide level, paving the way for the identification of proteoforms and peptide variants. Aliquots of human plasma from 78 samples representing a range of cancer indications were obtained through the Discovery Life Sciences biobank and used for analysis by both the Olink and Proteograph workflows. Olink analysis achieved Pearson correlation scores of greater than or equal to 0.8 when correlating each of seven process controls to each other for all approx. 3000 proteins. On average, greater than or equal to 75% of the proteins were detected across all panels in all sample groups except for Normal and Benign groups (64% and 74% respectively). After stringent FDR filtering to ensure only high-quality data was analyzed, the Seer Proteograph workflow quantified 4,323 proteins across all 78 samples. Pearson correlation scores of greater than or equal to 0.96 were achieved when comparing digestion controls, process controls, and sample cleanup controls. Both platforms achieved detection of proteins across the dynamic range of plasma, including low abundance proteins. The Olink Explore 3072 and Seer Proteograph platforms were found to be complementary, with approx. 15% overlap in measured proteins. Cancer biomarker discovery at the proteomic level is bolstered by recent advances in analytical capabilities, as revealed by the Olink Explore and Seer Proteograph platforms. Importantly, complementary implementation of these two workflows will enable comprehensive biomarker analysis.

Citation Format: Danielle B. Gutierrez, Jessica L. Moore, Jaison Arivalagan, Tiffany Louie, Leslie Wilkinson, Ray Clemens. Cancer biomarker discovery with scalable biofluid proteomics [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 7092.