- May 12, 2026
- Arutha Kulasinghe, et al., The University of Queensland
Topic/Product:
Inflammation Panel 250, Oncology
Disease Area:
Cancer
Sample Type:
Plasma
Abstract
NSCLC remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with limited biomarkers to guide surgical and immunotherapeutic intervention. This study leveraged two complementary plasma proteomics platforms, SomaScan (7596 proteins) and NULISA (250 inflammation-related proteins) to profile 87 timepoints from 56 NSCLC patients, collected pre- and post-surgery and pre- and post-ICI therapy. Robust biomarker selection used adaptive Lasso regression and the Stabl algorithm, with inter- and intra-cohort validation via orthogonal nELISA proteomics. Twenty-one differentially detectable plasma proteins were identified across treatment contexts. Surgical resection induced measurable proteomic changes: non-recurrent patients had higher circulating MUC16 and lower IL36G post-surgery, while recurrent patients showed elevated COX7A2L, FGF19, and SPOCK2, alongside lower FCER2, FCRLA, and SLITRK2. Among ICI-treated patients, responders had lower baseline levels of IL-6, CCL19, IL-2RA, CD200R1, CRP, LIF, PDCD1, CCL7, and SPP1, implicating systemic inflammation and immune regulation in treatment sensitivity. CEACAM5, PTX3, FGF23, and AREG were elevated in patients with worse clinical outcomes and poorer overall survival. MUC16, IL36G, CCL19, and IL-6 were independently validated by nELISA. Cross-platform comparison highlighted the complementary strengths of SomaScan’s broad proteomic coverage and NULISA’s sensitivity for low-abundance proteins. This integrated approach reveals distinct plasma signatures associated with surgical recurrence, ICI response, and prognosis in NSCLC.
Authors & Affiliations
Vahid Yaghoubi Naei¹˒²˒¹¹, Aaron Kilgallon²˒³˒¹¹, Gwendoline Mendes⁴, Akila Wijerathna-Yapa², Sanjay Dutta⁵, Clara Lawler², Connor O’Leary⁵, William Mullally⁵, James Monkman², James Mansfield⁶, Julien Hedou⁴˒⁷, Mark N. Adams⁸, Ken O’Byrne⁵˒⁸, Majid E. Warkiani⁹˒¹⁰, and Arutha Kulasinghe²˒³
¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
² Frazer Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
³ Queensland Spatial Biology Centre, Wesley Research Institute, The Wesley Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
⁴ SurgeCare SAS, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France
⁵ The Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
⁶ Standard BioTools Canada Inc, Markham, ON, Canada
⁷ Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine, CRSA, Paris, France
⁸ Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
¹⁰ The Advanced Biosciences and Bioengineering Research Center, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
¹¹ These authors contributed equally: Vahid Yaghoubi Naei, Aaron Kilgallon.
