Glial fibrillary acidic protein, neurofilament light, matrix metalloprotease 3 and fatty acid binding protein 4 as non-invasive brain tumor biomarkers

• Published in: Clinical proteomics Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 41
• Main Authors: Ghorbani, Atefeh, Chatanaka, Miyo K, Avery, Lisa M, Wang, Mingyue, Brown, Jermaine, Cohen, Rachel, Gorham, Taron, Misaghian, Salvia, Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Romero, Daniel, Stengelin, Martin, Mathew, Anu, Sigal, George, Wohlstadter, Jacob, Horbinski, Craig, McCortney, Katy, Xu, Wei, Zadeh, Gelareh, Mansouri, Alireza, Yousef, George M, Diamandis, Eleftherios P, Prassas, Ioannis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 15.06.2024; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Astrocytoma; Biological markers; Biomarkers; Biopsy; Brain; Brain cancer; Brain tumors; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Classification; Clinical trials; Development and progression; Differential diagnosis; Fatty acid-binding protein; Fatty acids; FDA approval; Glial fibrillary acidic protein; Glioma; Gliomas; Immunoassays; Invasiveness; Lymphoma; Lymphomas; Matrix metalloproteinase; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Neuronal-glial interactions; Patients; Pituitary; Plasma; Prognosis; Protein binding; Proteins; Quality of life; Radiation; Standard of care; Surgery; Survival; Tumors; Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP); Matrix metalloprotease 3 (MMP3); Glioma; Glioblastoma; Biomarkers; Liquid biopsy; Multiplexed electrochemiluminescence (ECL); Differential diagnosis; Neurofilament light (NEFL); Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4)
• ISSN: 1542-6416; 1559-0275
• DOI: 10.1186/s12014-024-09492-7

Gliomas are aggressive malignant tumors, with poor prognosis. There is an unmet need for the discovery of new, non-invasive biomarkers for differential diagnosis, prognosis, and management of brain tumors. Our objective is to validate four plasma biomarkers - glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light (NEFL), matrix metalloprotease 3 (MMP3) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) - and compare them with established brain tumor molecular markers and survival. Our cohort consisted of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors (GBM = 77, Astrocytomas = 26, Oligodendrogliomas = 23, Secondary tumors = 35, Meningiomas = 70, Schwannomas = 15, Pituitary adenomas = 15, Normal individuals = 30). For measurements, we used ultrasensitive electrochemiluminescence multiplexed immunoassays. High plasma GFAP concentration was associated with GBM, low GFAP and high FABP4 were associated with meningiomas, and low GFAP and low FABP4 were associated with astrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas. NEFL was associated with progression of disease. Several prognostic genetic alterations were significantly associated with all plasma biomarker levels. We found no independent associations between plasma GFAP, NEFL, FABP4 and MMP3, and overall survival. The candidate biomarkers could not reliably discriminate GBM from primary or secondary CNS lymphomas. GFAP, NEFL, FABP4 and MMP3 are useful for differential diagnosis and prognosis, and are associated with molecular changes in gliomas.