Proteomic and phosphoproteomic landscape of salivary extracellular vesicles to assess OSCC therapeutical outcomes

Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as an appealing source for surrogates to evaluate the disease status. Herein, we present a novel proteomic strategy to identify proteins and phosphoproteins from salivary EVs to distinguish oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients from healthy individuals and explore the feasibility to evaluate therapeutical outcomes. Bi-functionalized magnetic beads (BiMBs) with Ti (IV) ions and a lipid analog, 1,2-Distearoyl-3-sn-glycerophosphoethanolamine (DSPE) are developed to efficiently isolate EVs from small volume of saliva. In the discovery stage, label-free proteomics and phosphoproteomics quantification showed 315 upregulated proteins and 132 upregulated phosphoproteins in OSCC patients among more than 2500 EV proteins and 1000 EV phosphoproteins, respectively. We further applied targeted proteomics by coupling parallel reaction monitoring with parallel accumulation-serial fragmentation (prm-PASEF) to measure panels of proteins and phosphoproteins from salivary EVs collected before and after surgical resection. A panel of three total proteins and three phosphoproteins, most of which have previously been associated with OSCC and other cancer types, show sensitive response to the therapy in individual patients. Our study presents a novel strategy to the discovery of effective biomarkers for non-invasive assessment of OSCC surgical outcomes with small amount of saliva.

Automated summary

A novel proteomic strategy using salivary extracellular vesicles (EVs) was developed to distinguish oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients from healthy individuals and evaluate therapeutical outcomes. Bi-functionalized magnetic beads were used to efficiently isolate EVs from small volume of saliva. Proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis showed upregulated proteins and phosphoproteins in OSCC patients, and targeted proteomics identified a panel of proteins and phosphoproteins that can sensitively respond to therapy.