The Utility of Differential Scanning Calorimetry Curves of Blood Plasma for Diagnosis, Subtype Differentiation and Predicted Survival in Lung Cancer

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Lung cancer (LC) is the most common malignancy and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. Limitations of current screening approaches, such as substantial cost, radiation exposure, and high-false positive rates as well as increasing numbers of LC diagnoses in people without known risk factors, indicate the need for the development of new screening strategies. The aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for LC patients’ diagnosis. We found that DSC curves could be useful in differentiation of LC patients from control individuals and some changes were subtype or/and stage-dependent. Moreover, some DSC curve features correlated with patients’ overall/progression-free survival. Although the utility of the DSC technique still needs to be confirmed in a clinical setting, with further optimization and development of the classification method, this technique could provide an accurate, non-invasive, radiation-free strategy for LC screening and diagnosis. ABSTRACT: Early detection of lung cancer (LC) significantly increases the likelihood of successful treatment and improves LC survival rates. Currently, screening (mainly low-dose CT scans) is recommended for individuals at high risk. However, the recent increase in the number of LC cases unrelated to the well-known risk factors, and the high false-positive rate of low-dose CT, indicate a need to develop new, non-invasive methods for LC detection. Therefore, we evaluated the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for LC patients’ diagnosis and predicted survival. Additionally, by applying mass spectrometry, we investigated whether changes in O- and N-glycosylation of plasma proteins could be an underlying mechanism responsible for observed differences in DSC curves of LC and control subjects. Our results indicate selected DSC curve features could be useful for differentiation of LC patients from controls with some capable of distinction between subtypes and stages of LC. DSC curve features also correlate with LC patients’ overall/progression free survival. Moreover, the development of classification models combining patients’ DSC curves with selected plasma protein glycosylation levels that changed in the presence of LC could improve the sensitivity and specificity of the detection of LC. With further optimization and development of the classification method, DSC could provide an accurate, non-invasive, radiation-free strategy for LC screening and diagnosis.