For comprehensive biomarker discovery, it’s essential to evaluate a broad range of proteins with accuracy. Reliable protein measurement increases the likelihood of identifying critical biomarkers, ensuring that valuable insights are not overlooked.
However, traditional methods often fall short when it comes to handling the scale and precision needed for larger studies.
This application note examines an advanced proteomics platform designed to provide high precision across thousands of proteins, enabling reliable results even in large-scale and longitudinal studies.
Download this application note to explore:
- How this proteomics approach maintains precision across 11,000 proteins
- Key comparisons with traditional assay methods on scalability and accuracy
- Benefits for longitudinal and multi-site biomarker research
The SomaScan Assay: The Only Proteomic Approach That Scales With Precision | Technical Note | 1
Introduction
In biomarker discovery, it is critical to be able to
evaluate a wide range of proteins. The more proteins
that can be reliably measured, the better the chance
that biomarker discovery and validation will be
successful – and that nothing will be missed.
The SomaScan® Platform provides the largest
number of protein measurements and the greatest
number of orthogonally confirmed protein reagents
in the proteomics industry – 11,000 protein
measurements simultaneously from sample volumes
as low as 55 µL – giving researchers access to half
of the human proteome in just one assay. The
SomaScan Platform is proven as a reliable largescale biomarker discovery tool across assay size,
from 5K to 7K to 11K proteins measured.
SomaScan Assay: The Only Proteomic
Approach That Scales With Precision
TECHNICAL NOTE
Gain confidence in your longitudinal studies
based on unique precision at scale
The SomaScan Platform continues to detect the
most proteins while maintaining the lowest CVs. The
precision of the SomaScan Assay has been maintained
or improved across all versions, up to and including
the most recent release covering 11,000 protein
measurements – a challenge that antibody-based
assays have failed to overcome.
An independent head-to-head comparison1
of precision
demonstrated that the SomaScan Assay effectively
scales the number of proteins that can be measured
while other technologies cannot.
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
# Protein measurements
k=1,000s
Precision on duplicates (1-CV %)
SomaScan Assay scaling
High-plex antibody assay scaling
1.1K
96
5K
5K 7K 11K
3K
✓
x
SomaScan: No loss in precision as the assay scales
Figure 1. As SomaScan Assay expands from 5,000 to 7,000 to 11,000 proteins, precision in measurements has been maintained.
In contrast, high-plex antibody assays have shown a significant loss in precision as the assay attempts to scale.
* Source: Rooney, M.R. et al. “Plasma proteomic comparisons change as coverage expands for SomaLogic and Olink.” medRxiv.
2 | Technical Note | The SomaScan Assay: The Only Proteomic Approach That Scales With Precision
Platform SomaScan 11K
Assay
SomaScan 5K
Assay
High-plex
antibody
assay 1*
High-plex
antibody
assay 2*
Number of
proteins 11,083 5,284 5,420 3,072
Median
CV 6.8% 6.6% 35.7% 19.8%
The SomaScan Assay’s ability to scale provides
researchers with:
• Greater discovery potential of unique protein/
protein signatures for biomarker development in
therapeutic areas
• Consistent measurements of subtle changes in
protein expression across samples and over time
• The ability to trust and compare data across studies
and sites, ideal for use in large-cohort longitudinal
studies, without the need to bridge data
The SomaScan Assay is the industryleading proteomics platform with the
lowest CVs
The study tested the precision of the newest versions of
high-plex proteomic assays, assessing the reproducibility
of two affinity-based platforms using split plasma
samples from 102 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities
(ARIC) Study participants.
Results showed that a competitive high-plex antibody
platform has CVs that are almost 6x larger than the
SomaScan 11K Assay.
As supported in this statement from the paper: “These
findings on precision are consistent with the updated
results by Eldjarn et al. but indicate that precision of these
two leading platforms in human plasma has diverged as
the number of included proteins has increased.”
The SomaScan Assay has reliably maintained the lowest
CVs while expanding protein count to an industry-leading
11,000 proteins. Its stability and reproducibility mean that
data can be directly compared from one SomaScan
Assay to another, increasing confidence in large trials and
multi-site studies. Results show:
• No loss in precision as the SomaScan Assay
expands from 5K to 7K to 11K
• High-plex antibody assays have shown a significant
loss in precision as the assay attempts to scale
• The ability to future-proof longitudinal studies with the
SomaScan Platform, since adding new SomaScan
Assays to a study doesn’t require bridging
• High-plex antibody platforms require extensive
bridge designs as you expand upon these assays
The SomaScan Assay uniquely scales with 6x better precision than the high-plex
antibody assay
Table 1. The SomaScan Assay overcomes the challenges in assay-to assay variability experienced by antibody-based platforms,
with its industry-leading CVs that are maintained as the platform scales.
* Source: Rooney, M.R. et al. “Plasma proteomic comparisons change as coverage expands for SomaLogic and Olink.” medRxiv.
The SomaScan Assay: The Only Proteomic Approach That Scales With Precision | Technical Note | 3
2024 Nature corrections: The SomaScan
Platform leads in precision and number
of proteins
This Nature publication2
focused on the value of
information that can be generated from high-plex
protein profiling platforms and what differences in
results between the two can mean for population
proteomics studies. The SomaScan Assay’s lower
CVs lead to more reliable scientific findings and
meaningful outcomes.
Comparison of the SomaScan 5K Assay and a
competitive high-plex antibody platform was
performed using biobank data from the UK Biobank
generated by the UKB Pharma Proteomics Project
and from Iceland.
Analysis was stratified on ancestry and uncovered
genomic sequence variants associated with plasma
protein levels [protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs)]
and biomarkers of diseases and their progression.
Precision measurements between the assays were
calculated using CV.
The SomaScan Assay consistently demonstrated
significantly lower CVs versus the CVs of a high-plex
antibody platform.
The SomaScan Assay’s superior precision
ensures that data is reliable, reproducible
and clinically relevant
Given the SomaScan Platform’s unparalleled scalable
reliability and precision, it has been employed as the
leading proteomic platform for clinical trial studies by
top pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol Myers
Squibb3
, Novo Nordisk4
, Gilead Sciences5 and Pfizer6
in
a range of therapeutic areas, including cardiometabolic
disease, oncology and neurodegeneration.
The SomaScan Platform leads the industry with the
ability to accurately measure 11,000 proteins, making
the SomaScan 11K Assay the only scalable proteomic
tool that maintains the highest precision.
Figure 2. The SomaScan Assay median CVs across the majority of protein measurements are superior to a competitor high-plex
antibody assay. Protein measurements using the SomaScan 11K Assay show a median CV <10%. Protein measurements using a
competitive high-plex antibody platform show higher variability in CVs, with almost half of the CVs in the 50% range, as seen in the
spike on the right.
* Source: Rooney, M.R. et al. “Plasma proteomic comparisons change as coverage expands for SomaLogic and Olink.” medRxiv
SomaScan Assay has superior consistency in precision across the entire
platform coverage
High-plex antibody assay #1 High-plex antibody assay #2 SomaScan 11k
Coe cient of Variation %
Frequency
0 10 20 30 40 50
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
SomaScan Assay consistent CVs
High-plex antibody assays
inconsistent CVs
✓
x
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References:
1 Rooney, M.R. et al. “Plasma proteomic comparisons
change as coverage expands for SomaLogic and
Olink.” medRxiv (2024): doi:10.1101/2024.07.11.24310161.
2 Eldjarn, G.H. et al. “Large-scale plasma proteomics
comparisons through genetics and disease
associations.” Nature 622 (2023): 348–358.
3 Brown, E. A. et al. Effect of pegbelfermin on NASH
and fibrosis-related biomarkers and correlation with
histological response in the FALCON 1 trial. JHEP
Reports, Volume 5, Issue 4, 100661.
4 Schattenberg, J. et al. Prevalence of, and effect
of semaglutide on, features of non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis in patients with obesity with and
without type 2 diabetes: analysis of data from
two randomised placebo-controlled trials using
SomaSignal tests. J.Hepatol., 78(S1), S811-S812.
5 Kowdley et al. EASL June 2023.
6 Sivakumar, P. et al. SomaLogic proteomics reveals
new biomarkers and provides mechanistic, clinical
insights into Acetyl coA Carboxylase (ACC) inhibition
in Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). Scientific
Reports, 14, Article 17072.
