Proteogenomic Analysis of Surgically Resected Lung Adenocarcinoma

Introduction: Despite apparently complete surgical resection, approximately half of resected early-stage lung cancer patients relapse and die of their disease. Adjuvant chemotherapy reduces this risk by only 5% to 8%. Thus, there is a need for better identifying who benefits from adjuvant therapy, the drivers of relapse, and novel targets in this setting. Methods: RNA sequencing and liquid chromatography/liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry proteomics data were generated from 51 surgically resected non–small cell lung tumors with known recurrence status. Results: We present a rationale and framework for the incorporation of high-content RNA and protein measurements into integrative biomarkers and show the potential of this approach for predicting risk of recurrence in a group of lung adenocarcinomas. In addition, we characterize the relationship between mRNA and protein measurements in lung adenocarcinoma and show that it is outcome specific. Conclusions: Our results suggest that mRNA and protein data possess independent biological and clinical importance, which can be leveraged to create higher-powered expression biomarkers.