Rapid identification of novel independent serum biomarkers in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a common subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We assessed serum biomarkers to identify patients with DLBCL and healthy controls, as well as prognosis-related paired pre- and post-R-CHOP therapy effect of patients with DLBCL.

Methods: Serum samples from 329 DLBCL patients and 100 healthy controls were collected in this study, as well as 72 samples from additional DLBCL patients with paired pre- and post-R-CHOP therapy (n=36). All serum samples were pretreated and detected by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Serum biomarkers were discriminated between DLBCL patients and healthy controls, as well as between DLBCL patients with prognosis-related paired pre- and post-R-CHOP therapy, and identified by Veristrat Identification Platform 1.0, Bioyong Explore 1.0 and mMass software.

Results: Two peaks, m/z values of 15,140.74 and 15,885.43, were significantly different from all peaks among the DLBCL patients and healthy controls (P<0.001). Patients with DLBCL could be identified with a sensitivity of 85.9% and specificity of 91.8% of 15,140.74, in the same way for the sensitivity of 92.1% and specificity of 84.4% of 15,885.43. The m/z values of 13,895.80 were downregulated after R-CHOP treatment in DLBCL patients who obtained complete remission (CR) (P=0.018).

Conclusions: The potential independent serum biomarkers for diagnosis as well as prognosis of DLBCL could be provided for rapid identification.