Identification of Potential Serum Protein Biomarkers in Thymoma with Myasthenia Gravis After Docetaxel Treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a devastating acquired autoimmune disease that can seriously affect the patient’s quality of life. It is also a common complication of thymoma. Previous studies have shown that docetaxel alleviates myasthenic symptoms in thymoma with MG (TMG). However, little is known about the protein expression profiles and biomarkers for efficacy after docetaxel treatment. Methods: We recruited 9 healthy controls and 30 patients with TMG for the serum proteomics study with data-independent acquisition (DIA) technology. We further recruited additional 30 patients for the key protein validation by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: We identified 43 proteins by trend analysis and analyzed the interaction between these proteins and MG pathogenic proteins from the DisGNET database and the correlation analysis with clinical data of patients with TMG. Among these, KRAS and SELP were screened out and validated. KRAS and SELP increased in patients with TMG and decreased significantly after docetaxel treatment. Conclusions: Our study revealed that the serum proteins were differentially expressed after docetaxel treatment, suggesting their important role in patients with TMG, as well as the critical role of KRAS and SELP as biomarkers in evaluating the efficacy of docetaxel treatment.