Background: Early diagnosis remains difficult because the early symptoms of thymoma are atypical. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the changes of serum proteins in the early stage of thymoma (stage I/II) by proteomics method and to screen and validate candidate biomarkers. Methods: Proteins were extracted from 8 sera patients with stage I/II thymoma and 9 healthy controls. The levels of serum proteins were detected by data-independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative proteomics techniques, and the differential proteins were identified. The proteomic results were verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Additionally, differentially expressed proteins were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC). Results: There were 80 differentially expressed proteins between the patients with thymoma and the healthy control group, among which 39 were up-regulated and 41 were down-regulated. Differential protein enrichment is involved in environmental information processing, signaling molecules and interactions, and in the body system and the immune system. The analysis of receptor working characteristic curves showed that the areas under the curve of CORO1A, SAA1 and LTA4H were all larger than 0.8, indicating that these proteins had good diagnostic value. Conclusion: CORO1A, SAA1 and LTA4H may be new biomarkers for early screening of thymoma.

中文翻译：

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基于血清蛋白质组学探索早期胸腺瘤的潜在生物标志物

背景：由于胸腺瘤的早期症状不典型，早期诊断仍然很困难。目的：本研究旨在通过蛋白质组学方法分析胸腺瘤早期（I/II期）血清蛋白的变化，筛选和验证候选生物标志物。方法：从 8 名 I/II 期胸腺瘤患者和 9 名健康对照者的血清中提取蛋白质。采用数据独立采集（DIA）定量蛋白质组学技术检测血清蛋白水平，并鉴定差异蛋白。蛋白质组学结果通过酶联免疫吸附测定进行验证。此外，使用受试者工作特征曲线（ROC）分析差异表达的蛋白质。结果：胸腺瘤患者与健康对照组之间存在80个差异表达蛋白，其中39个上调，41个下调。差异蛋白富集涉及环境信息处理、信号分子和相互作用，以及身体系统和免疫系统。受体工作特征曲线分析表明，CORO1A、SAA1和LTA4H的曲线下面积均大于0.8，表明这些蛋白具有良好的诊断价值。结论：CORO1A、SAA1和LTA4H可能成为胸腺瘤早期筛查的新生物标志物。