Observational studyJournal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer2021
Serum Proteomics and Plasma Fibulin-3 in Differentiation of Mesothelioma From Asbestos-Exposed Controls and Patients With Other Pleural Diseases.
Observational study in Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human biomarker navigator.iMeta · 2026Review
- Diagnostic Challenges in Pleural Mesothelioma.Cancers · 2026Review
- Advances in the Basic Sciences in Thoracic Oncology in the Last 20 Years and Their Translational Impact.Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer · 2026Review
- Review
- Contemporary management of mesothelioma.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2024Review
- Pleural mesothelioma (PMe): The evolving molecular knowledge of a rare and aggressive cancer.Molecular oncology · 2024Review
- Pleural Mesothelioma: Advances in Blood and Pleural Biomarkers.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Observational
- BAP1 Loss Is Associated with Higher ASS1 Expression in Epithelioid Mesothelioma: Implications for Therapeutic Stratification.Molecular cancer research : MCR · 2023Article
- Identification of a new potential plasmatic biomarker panel for the diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.La Medicina del lavoro · 2022Article
- Serum diagnostic markers for malignant pleural mesothelioma: a narrative review.Translational cancer research · 2022Review
- Article
- Article
- The extracellular matrix protein fibulin-3/EFEMP1 promotes pleural mesothelioma growth by activation of PI3K/Akt signaling.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
36 authors at 20 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionMalignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is difficult to diagnose. An accurate blood biomarker could prompt specialist referral or be deployed in future screening. In earlier retrospective studies, SOMAscan proteomics (Somalogic, Boulder, CO) and fibulin-3 seemed highly accurate, but SOMAscan has not been validated prospectively and subsequent fibulin-3 data have been contradictory.
methodsA multicenter prospective observational study was performed in 22 centers, generating a large intention-to-diagnose cohort. Blood sampling, processing, and diagnostic assessment were standardized, including a 1-year follow-up. Plasma fibulin-3 was measured using two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (CloudClone [used in previous studies] and BosterBio, Pleasanton, CA). Serum proteomics was measured using the SOMAscan assay. Diagnostic performance (sensitivity at 95% specificity, area under the curve [AUC]) was benchmarked against serum mesothelin (Mesomark, Fujirebio Diagnostics, Malvern, PA). Biomarkers were correlated against primary tumor volume, inflammatory markers, and asbestos exposure.
resultsA total of 638 patients with suspected pleural malignancy (SPM) and 110 asbestos-exposed controls (AECs) were recruited. SOMAscan reliably differentiated MPM from AECs (75% sensitivity, 88.2% specificity, validation cohort AUC 0.855) but was not useful in patients with differentiating non-MPM SPM. Fibulin-3 (by BosterBio after failed CloudClone validation) revealed 7.4% and 11.9% sensitivity at 95% specificity in MPM versus non-MPM SPM and AECs, respectively (associated AUCs 0.611 [0.557-0.664], p = 0.0015) and 0.516 [0.443-0.589], p = 0.671), both inferior to mesothelin. SOMAscan proteins correlated with inflammatory markers but not with asbestos exposure. Neither biomarker correlated with tumor volume.
conclusionsSOMAscan may prove useful as a future screening test for MPM in asbestos-exposed persons. Neither fibulin-3 nor SOMAscan should be used for diagnosis or pathway stratification.
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