Proteomic Analysis Finds Three Extracellular Vesicle Protein Markers of Ovarian Cancer

Researchers in Japan have identified three extracellular vesicle protein markers of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. In their study appearing in Science Advances, the researchers isolated cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) from cell lines or patient samples and analyzed them using LC-MS/MS to find differing proteomic profiles between small EVs and medium/large EVs. In particular, they found the membrane proteins FRα, Claudin-3, and TACSTD2 to be present in the small EVs from high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, a finding they validated using multiple approaches, including shotgun proteomics and western blotting. The researchers further developed a polyketone-coated nanowire-based tool to better separate out small EVs from biofluids, a step they had found challenging. "Our findings showed that each of the three identified proteins is useful as a biomarker for HGSCs," first author Akira Yokoi from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine says in a statement. "The results of this research suggest that these diagnostic biomarkers can be used as predictive markers for specific therapies. Our results allow doctors to optimize their therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer, therefore, they may be useful for realizing personalized medicine."