Plasma proteomics reveals potential biomarkers for the preoperative diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is a rare endocrine malignancy with a poor prognosis. The preoperative diagnosis of PC is difficult because of the lack of specific clinical features and effective diagnostic methods. Proteomics research can provide new strategies for preoperative diagnosis, but the proteomic profile of plasma from PC patients is still unavailable. MEASURES: Plasma samples from 10 PC patients and 10 PA patients were collected before surgery, and quantitative label-free proteomics analysis was applied to explore the proteomic landscape of parathyroid neoplasms. Next, parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) analysis was used to verify the possible biomarkers in plasma from 24 PC patients and 46 PA patients. Finally, the expression of potential biomarkers in parathyroid tumor tissues was validated.

RESULTS

Compared with those in PA patients, 76 overexpressed proteins and 62 underexpressed proteins were identified in the plasma of PC patients. These differentially expressed proteins were closely associated with the immune system according to functional enrichment analysis. PRM analysis revealed that four proteins, including myoglobin (p = 0.048), polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) (p = 0.021), coronin-1 A (p = 0.024), and immunoglobulin heavy variables 2–26 (p = 0.029), were promising diagnostic biomarkers for PCs. Coronin-1 A (p = 0.038) and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (p = 0.041) were significantly related to overall survival (OS) of PC patients. Moreover, coronin-1 A was confirmed to be significantly overexpressed in parathyroid carcinoma tissues.

CONCLUSION

The proteomic profile of plasma from patients with PCs significantly differed from that of plasma from patients with PAs. Myolobin, pIgR, coronin-1 A and immunoglobulin heavy variable 2–26 in plasma may be potential biomarkers for the preoperative diagnosis of PCs. Coronin-1 A may serve as a novel biomarker for the differential diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma in not only preoperative but also postoperative diagnosis.