Stability and reproducibility of proteomic profiles in epidemiological studies: comparing the Olink and SOMAscan platforms
Open accessAbstract
Limited data exist on the performance of high‐throughput proteomics profiling in epidemiological settings, including the impact of specimen collection and within‐person variability over time. Thus, the Olink (972 proteins) and SOMAscan7Kv4.1 (7322 proteoforms of 6596 proteins) assays were utilized to measure protein concentrations in archived plasma samples from the Nurses’ Health Studies and Health Professionals Follow‐Up Study. Spearman's correlation coefficients ( r ) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to assess agreement between (1) 42 triplicate samples processed immediately, 24‐h or 48‐h after blood collection from 14 participants; and (2) 80 plasma samples from 40 participants collected 1‐year apart. When comparing samples processed immediately, 24‐h, and 48‐h later, 55% of assays had an ICC/ r ≥ 0.75 and 87% had an ICC/ r ≥ 0.40 in Olink compared to 44% with an ICC/ r ≥ 0.75 and 72% with an ICC/ r ≥ 0.40 in SOMAscan7K. For both platforms, >90% of the assays were stable (ICC/ r ≥ 0.40) in samples collected 1‐year apart. Among 817 proteins measured with both platforms, Spearman's correlations were high ( r > 0.75) for 14.7% and poor ( r < 0.40) for 44.8% of proteins. High‐throughput proteomics profiling demonstrated reproducibility in archived plasma samples and stability after delayed processing in epidemiological studies, yet correlations between proteins measured with the Olink and SOMAscan7K platforms were highly variable.
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Existing comparisons of SomaScan and Olink platforms have shown that some protein measures are not concordant, with median inter-platform correlation = 0.38-0.50, which challenges the accuracy of protein associations observed.
“However, existing comparisons of SomaScan and Olink platforms have shown that some protein measures are not concordant (median inter-platform correlation = 0.38–0.50)11–16, which challenges the accuracy of protein associations observed, especially as there is no “gold-standard” reference measure for most proteins.”
From Cross-ancestry comparison of aptamer and antibody protein measures (2026) · cites this paper as [13]
The modest overlap between our findings and aptamer-based studies is unsurprising because correlations between proteins measured by both platforms are highly variable and shared genetic signals can be masked by extreme, assay-specific binding affinities.
“This modest overlap is unsurprising, given that correlations between proteins measured by both platforms are highly variable 52,53 , and shared genetic signals can be masked by extreme, assay-specific binding affinities 51 .”
From Plasma proteomic associations with genetics and health in the UK Biobank (2023) · cites this paper as [52]
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Self-citationCross-ancestry comparison of aptamer and antibody protein measures
Nicholas, J. C., Katz, D. H., Tahir, U. A., Debban, C. L., Aguet, F., Blackwell, T., Bowler, R. P., Broadaway, K. A., Chen, J., Clish, C. B., et al. (2026) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67814-1 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Haslam, D. E., Li, J., Dillon, S. T., Gu, X., Cao, Y., Zeleznik, O. A., Sasamoto, N., Zhang, X., Eliassen, A. H., Liang, L., Stampfer, M. J., Mora, S., Chen, Z., Terry, K. L., Gerszten, R. E., Hu, F. B., Chan, A. T., Libermann, T. A., & Bhupathiraju, S. N.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Broad Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bhupathiraju, Shilpa N.
- ORCID
- Venue
- PROTEOMICS
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2022-05-31
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 13-14
- Pages
- e2100170-e2100170
- ISSN
- 1615-9853 (ISSN-L)
- 1615-9861
- PMC
- PMC9923770
- OpenAlex
- W4281252748
- Cited by
- 157
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 8.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- PROTEOMICS (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Cancer Research UK
- National Institutes of Health (P30 CA006516, R01 CA49449, R01 CA67262, T32 CA009001, U01 CA167552, U01 CA176726, UM1 CA186107)
- U.S. Department of Defense (OCRP W81XWH2110320)
- J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Advanced Biosensing Techniques and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Advanced Proteomics Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Keywords
- Olink, SomaScan, high-throughput proteomics, plasma proteome, delayed sample processing, within-person variability, reproducibility, protein stability, Nurses' Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, proteoforms
- MeSH terms
- Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Specimen Handling, Reproducibility of Results, Epidemiologic Studies, Proteomics
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