Propensity score matching as an effective strategy for biomarker cohort design and omics data analysis

Abstract

Background Analysis of omics data that contain multidimensional biological and clinical information can be complex and make it difficult to deduce significance of specific biomarker factors. Methods We explored the utility of propensity score matching (PSM), a statistical technique for minimizing confounding factors and simplifying the examination of specific factors. We tested two datasets generated from cohorts of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, one comprised of immunohistochemical analysis of 12 protein markers in 544 CRC tissues and another consisting of RNA-seq profiles of 163 CRC cases. We examined the efficiency of PSM by comparing pre- and post-PSM analytical results. Results Unlike conventional analysis which typically compares randomized cohorts of cancer and normal tissues, PSM enabled direct comparison between patient characteristics uncovering new prognostic biomarkers. By creating optimally matched groups to minimize confounding effects, our study demonstrates that PSM enables robust extraction of significant biomarkers while requiring fewer cancer cases and smaller overall patient cohorts. Conclusion PSM may emerge as an efficient and cost-effective strategy for multiomic data analysis and clinical trial design for biomarker discovery.