Plasma extracellular vesicles proteomics in meningioma patients

Tumor derived Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in circulating system may contain tumor-specific markers, and EV detection in body fluids could become an important tool for early tumor diagnosis, prognosis assessment. Meningiomas are the most common benign intracranial tumors, few studies have revealed specific protein markers for meningiomas from patients’ body fluids. In this study, using proximity labeling technology and non-tumor patient plasma as a control, we detected protein levels of EVs in plasma samples from meningioma patients before and after surgery. Through bioinformatics analysis, we discovered that the levels of EV count and protein count in meningioma patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls, and were significantly decreased postoperatively. Among EV proteins in meningioma patients, the levels of MUC1, SIGLEC11, E-Cadherin, KIT, and TASCTD2 were found not only significantly elevated than those in healthy controls, but also significantly decreased after tumor resection. Moreover, using publicly available GEO databases, we verified that the mRNA level of MUC1, SIGLEC11, and CDH1 in meningiomas were significantly higher in comparison with normal dura mater tissues. Additionally, by analyzing human meningioma specimens collected in this study, we validated the protein levels of MUC1 and SIGLEC11 were significantly increased in WHO grade 2 meningiomas and were positively correlated with tumor proliferation levels. This study indicates that meningiomas secret EV proteins into circulating system, which may serve as specific markers for diagnosis, malignancy predicting and tumor recurrent assessment.