Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40659634›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Immunodiagnostic plasma amino acid residue biomarkers detect cancer early and predict treatment response.

Cong Tang, Patrícia Corredeira, Sandra Casimiro, Qi Shi, Qiwei Han, Wesley Sukdao, Ana Cavaco, Cecília Melo-Alvim, Carolina Ochôa Matos, Catarina Abreu and 9 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Cong TangGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal. cong.tang@gimm.pt.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1661-6793
Patrícia CorredeiraGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal.
Sandra CasimiroGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6917-4477
Qi ShiNova School of Business and Economics, R. da Holanda 1, Carcavelos, Portugal.
Qiwei HanNova School of Business and Economics, R. da Holanda 1, Carcavelos, Portugal.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6044-4530
Wesley SukdaoProteotype Diagnostics Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK.
Ana CavacoGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal.
Cecília Melo-AlvimServiço de Oncologia Médica, ULSSM, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
Carolina Ochôa MatosServiço de Reumatologia, ULS de Santa Maria, Centro Académico de Medicina de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Catarina AbreuServiço de Oncologia Médica, ULSSM, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
Steven WalshProteotype Diagnostics Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK.
Gonçalo Nogueira-CostaServiço de Oncologia Médica, ULSSM, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
Leonor RibeiroServiço de Oncologia Médica, ULSSM, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
Rita SousaServiço de Oncologia Médica, ULSSM, Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
Ana Lorena BarradasGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6577-6852
João Eurico FonsecaServiço de Reumatologia, ULS de Santa Maria, Centro Académico de Medicina de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Luís CostaGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal. luis.costa@ulssm.min-saude.pt.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4782-7318
Emma V YatesProteotype Diagnostics Ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK. emma@proteotype.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0272-9308
Gonçalo J L BernardesGIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine; Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, Lisboa, Portugal. gb453@cam.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6594-8917

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The immune response to tumour development is frequently targeted with therapeutics but remains largely unexplored in diagnostics, despite being stronger for early-stage tumours. We present an immunodiagnostic platform to detect this. We identify a panel of amino acid residue biomarkers providing a signature of cancer-specific immune activation associated with tumour development and distinct from autoimmune and infectious diseases, measurable optically in neat blood plasma, and validate within N = 170 participants. By measuring the total concentrations of cysteine, free cysteine, lysine, tryptophan, and tyrosine protein-incorporated biomarkers and analyzing the results with supervised machine learning, we identify 78% of cancers with 0% false positive rate (N = 97) with an AUROC of 0.95. The cancer, healthy, and autoimmune/infectious biomarker pattern are statistically significantly different (p < 0.0001). Smaller-scale changes in biomarker concentrations reveal inter-patient differences in immune activation that predict treatment response. Specific concentration ranges of these biomarkers predict response to Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors in advanced breast cancer patients (p < 0.05), identifying 98% of responders (N = 33). Here we provide an immunodiagnostic technology platform that, to our knowledge, has not been previously reported, and prove initial clinical application in a cohort of N = 170, including proof of concept in Multi Cancer Early Detection and personalized medicine.

Indexed as

Amino AcidsBiomarkers, TumorBreast NeoplasmsEarly Detection of CancerNeoplasmsAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedTreatment OutcomeAmino AcidsBiomarkers, Tumor

Identifiers

PMID40659634
PMCPMC12260101

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.