RNA-Seq of Tumor-Educated Platelets Enables Blood-Based Pan-Cancer, Multiclass, and Molecular Pathway Cancer Diagnostics

Publication date

2015-11-09

Authors

Best, Myron G.
Sol, Nik
Kooi, Irsan
Tannous, Jihane
Westerman, Bart A.
Rustenburg, François
Schellen, Pepijn
Verschueren, Heleen
Post, Edward
Koster, Jan

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Supervisors

Document Type

Article

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Abstract

Tumor-educated blood platelets (TEPs) are implicated as central players in the systemic and local responses to tumor growth, thereby altering their RNA profile. We determined the diagnostic potential of TEPs by mRNA sequencing of 283 platelet samples. We distinguished 228 patients with localized and metastasized tumors from 55 healthy individuals with 96% accuracy. Across six different tumor types, the location of the primary tumor was correctly identified with 71% accuracy. Also, MET or HER2-positive, and mutant KRAS, EGFR, or PIK3CA tumors were accurately distinguished using surrogate TEP mRNA profiles. Our results indicate that blood platelets provide a valuable platform for pan-cancer, multiclass cancer, and companion diagnostics, possibly enabling clinical advances in blood-based "liquid biopsies".

Keywords

Oncology, Cell Biology, Cancer Research

Citation

Best, M G, Sol, N, Kooi, I, Tannous, J, Westerman, B A, Rustenburg, F, Schellen, P, Verschueren, H, Post, E, Koster, J, Ylstra, B, Ameziane, N, Dorsman, J, Smit, E F, Verheul, H M, Noske, D P, Reijneveld, J C, Nilsson, R J A, Tannous, B A, Wesseling, P & Wurdinger, T 2015, 'RNA-Seq of Tumor-Educated Platelets Enables Blood-Based Pan-Cancer, Multiclass, and Molecular Pathway Cancer Diagnostics', Cancer Cell, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 666-676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2015.09.018