Scientific Reports (Jun 2023)

Tumor-educated platelet blood tests for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer detection and management

  • Mafalda Antunes-Ferreira,
  • Silvia D’Ambrosi,
  • Mohammad Arkani,
  • Edward Post,
  • Sjors G. J. G. In ‘t Veld,
  • Jip Ramaker,
  • Kenn Zwaan,
  • Ece Demirel Kucukguzel,
  • Laurine E. Wedekind,
  • Arjan W. Griffioen,
  • Mirjam Oude Egbrink,
  • Marijke J. E. Kuijpers,
  • Daan van den Broek,
  • David P. Noske,
  • Koen J. Hartemink,
  • Siamack Sabrkhany,
  • Idris Bahce,
  • Nik Sol,
  • Harm-Jan Bogaard,
  • Danijela Koppers-Lalic,
  • Myron G. Best,
  • Thomas Wurdinger

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35818-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Liquid biopsy approaches offer a promising technology for early and minimally invasive cancer detection. Tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) have emerged as a promising liquid biopsy biosource for the detection of various cancer types. In this study, we processed and analyzed the TEPs collected from 466 Non-small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC) patients and 410 asymptomatic individuals (controls) using the previously established thromboSeq protocol. We developed a novel particle-swarm optimization machine learning algorithm which enabled the selection of an 881 RNA biomarker panel (AUC 0.88). Herein we propose and validate in an independent cohort of samples (n = 558) two approaches for blood samples testing: one with high sensitivity (95% NSCLC detected) and another with high specificity (94% controls detected). Our data explain how TEP-derived spliced RNAs may serve as a biomarker for minimally-invasive clinical blood tests, complement existing imaging tests, and assist the detection and management of lung cancer patients.