Prospective pan-cancer phosphoproteomics at clinical scale extends therapeutic options in precision oncology

Abstract

Genomics-guided precision oncology has improved survival in cancer entities with actionable mutations but cannot capture oncogenic signaling that manifests at the protein level. Here, we report a prospective, real-world pan-cancer study profiling proteomes and phosphoproteomes of 1,998 tumor samples from adults and children with rare or advanced cancers enrolled in the German precision oncology programs DKFZ/NCT/DKTK MASTER, CATCH and INFORM and their molecular tumor boards (MTBs). We developed tumor proteome activity status (TOPAS) scores for 46 clinically relevant kinases, an immune activity score capturing antigen presentation and T-cell activation and identified therapeutically targetable cell-surface proteins for 94% of patients. These readouts enhance MTB recommendations by exposing actionable non-genomic kinase activity, refining interpretation of oncogenic genome alterations, and highlighting cell-surface treatment options. Three proof-of-concept analyses indicate clinical utility including kinase activity-stratified pazopanib response in sarcoma, immune activity score-tracked checkpoint-inhibitor outcomes pan-cancer, and a phosphoproteomic biomarker distinguishing EGFR-inhibitor response in chordoma.