Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a cancer affecting the B cells, a type of lymphocyte that is responsible for producing antibodies. These cancerous white blood cells enlarge the lymph nodes and frequently migrate to the spleen, liver, bone marrow or other organs. It is derived from white blood cells that grow in an uncontrolled, rapid manner and therefore require treatment. It is the most common form of lymphoma, with an annual incidence of 7–8 cases per 100,000 people per year in the US and UK. This cancer occurs primarily in older individuals, although it can occur in young adults and, in rare cases, children. DLBCL can arise in virtually any part of the body and, depending on various factors, is often a very aggressive malignancy.

Figure 1. The volcano plot shows the adjusted p-value compared to the difference in average protein expression (NPX) for all proteins in DLBCL compared to all other cancers. The lollipop plot shows the top 10 most important proteins resulting from the cancer prediction model with importance scores ranging between 0 to 100.

Pan-cancer protein panel

Four proteins were selected by the model to predict the immune cell related cancer diffuse large b cell lymphoma (DLBCL). No individual upregulated protein showed a high prediction value and the top two proteins (CXCL9 and CXCL13) are chemokines secreted to blood by immune cells.