Introduction to bridging Olink® NPX datasets

Compiled: May 08, 2023

Individual Olink® NPX datasets are normalized using either plate control normalization or intensity normalization methods. Plate control normalization is generally used for single plate projects, while intensity normalization is used for multi-plate projects. Additionally, intensity normalization method assumes that all samples within a project are fully randomized.

In the case where all samples within a project are not fully randomized, or when a study is separated into separate batches, an additional normalization step is needed to allow the data to be comparable, since NPX is a relative measurement. The joint analysis of two or more Olink® NPX datasets often requires an additional batch correction step to remove technical variations, which is referred to as bridging.

Bridging is also needed if Olink® NPX datasets are:

To bridge two or more Olink® NPX datasets, bridging samples are needed to calculate the assay-specific adjustment factors between datasets. Bridging samples are shared samples among datasets - that is that samples that are analyzed in both datasets. The recommended number of bridging samples are shown in the table below. Olink® NPX datasets without shared samples should not be combined using the bridging approach described below.

Recommended number of bridging samples for Olink platforms
Platform BridgingSamples
Target 96 8-16
Explore 384 Cardiometabolic, Inflammation, Neurology, and Oncology 8-16
Explore 384 Cardiometabolic II, Inflammation II, Neurology II, and Oncology II 16-24

The following tutorial is designed to give you an overview of the kinds of data combining methods that are possible using the Olink® bridging procedure. Before starting bridging, it is important to check if the same sample IDs were assigned to the bridging samples.

Selecting bridging samples

Prior to running the second study, bridging samples must be selected from the reference study and be added to the second study. These samples can be selected using the olink_bridgeselector() function in Olink Analyze. The bridge selection function will select a number of bridge samples based on the reference data. This function selects samples which passes QC and have high detectability. To select samples across the range of the data, the samples are ordered by mean NPX value and selected across this range. When running the selector, Olink recommends starting at sampleMissingFreq = 0.10 which represents a maximum of 10% data below LOD per sample. If there are not enough samples output, increase to 20%. For alternative matrices and specific disease types, it may be needed to increase the sampleMissingFreq to higher levels.

In this example we will demonstrate how to select 16 bridging samples using npx_data1 which will act as the reference data.

Selected Bridging Samples
SampleID PercAssaysBelowLOD MeanNPX
A20 0.05 6.54
A53 0.04 6.28
B36 0.07 6.20
B35 0.07 6.24
B20 0.06 6.46
B79 0.06 6.11
B55 0.08 6.26
B62 0.05 6.08
A59 0.03 6.07
B9 0.06 5.99
B13 0.05 6.32
A77 0.07 6.22
B65 0.05 6.39
B34 0.05 5.87
A47 0.07 6.15
A67 0.04 6.35

Setup bridging datasets

Bridging datasets are standard Olink® NPX tables. They can be loaded using read_NPX() function with default Olink Software NPX file as input.

data1 <- read_NPX("~/NPX_file1_location.xlsx")
data2 <- read_NPX("~/NPX_file2_location.xlsx")

To demonstrate how bridging works, we will use the example datasets (npx_data1 and npx_data2) from Olink Analyze package. This workflow also uses functions from the dplyr, stringr, and ggplot2 packages.

Check bridging datasets

First, confirm that there are overlapping sample IDs within the study. It is important that the sample IDs are the same in both NPX files.

Overlapping Bridging Samples
SampleID
A13
A29
A30
A36
A45
A46
A52
A63
A71
A73
B3
B4
B37
B45
B63
B75

Then, gain an overview of the datasets that are going to be bridged. For example, plot and compare NPX distribution between datasets. By having a sense of how the studies compared to each other before bridging, we can then determine the success of the bridging process post bridging.

# Load datasets
npx_1 <- npx_data1 %>%
  mutate(dataset = "data1")
npx_2 <- npx_data2 %>%
  mutate(dataset = "data2")

npx_df <- bind_rows(npx_1, npx_2)


# Plot NPX density before bridging normalization
npx_df %>%
  mutate(Panel = gsub("Olink ", "", Panel)) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = NPX, fill = dataset)) +
  geom_density(alpha = 0.4) +
  facet_grid(~Panel) +
  olink_fill_discrete(coloroption = c("red", "darkblue")) +
  set_plot_theme() +
  ggtitle("Before bridging normalization: NPX distribution") +
  theme(axis.title.x = element_blank(),
        axis.title.y = element_blank(),
        strip.text = element_text(size = 16),
        legend.title = element_blank(),
        legend.position = "top")

Use a PCA plot to visualize sample-to-sample distance before bridging. Typically the project dataset accounts for most of the observed variation within the combined datasets at this point.

## before bridging

#### Extract bridging samples

overlapping_samples <-  data.frame(SampleID = intersect(npx_1$SampleID, npx_2$SampleID)) %>%  
  filter(!str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL_SAMPLE")) %>% #Remove control samples
  pull(SampleID)


npx_before_br <- npx_data1 %>%
  dplyr::filter(!str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL_SAMPLE")) %>% #Remove control samples
  dplyr::mutate(Type = if_else(SampleID %in% overlapping_samples,
                        paste0("20200001 Bridge"),
                        paste0("20200001 Sample"))) %>%
  rbind({
    npx_data2 %>%
      filter(!str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL_SAMPLE")) %>% #Remove control samples %>% 
      mutate(Type = if_else(SampleID %in% overlapping_samples,
                            paste0("20200002 Bridge"),
                            paste0("20200002 Sample"))) %>%
      mutate(SampleID = if_else(SampleID %in% overlapping_samples,
                                paste0(SampleID, "_new"),
                                SampleID))
  })




### PCA plot
OlinkAnalyze::olink_pca_plot(df          = npx_before_br,
                             color_g     = "Type",
                             byPanel     = TRUE)

PCA plot of combined datasets before bridging

Perform bridging between two data sets

We can use olink_normalization_bridge() function to bridge two datasets. The bridging procedure is to first calculate the median of the paired NPX differences per assay between the bridging samples as adjustment factor then use these adjustment factors to adjust NPX values between two datasets. In this process, one dataset is considered the reference dataset (df1) and its NPX values remain unaltered. The other dataset is considered the new dataset (df2) and is adjusted to the reference dataset based on the adjustment factors.

The output from olink_normalization_bridge() function is a NPX table with adjusted NPX value in the column NPX. olink_normalization_bridge() is a wrapper for and supersedes olink_normalization() .

olink_normalization_bridge() creates a new column Project to distinguish between reference dataset from the other dataset. It is up to the user to define which dataset is the reference dataset and specify the names of the bridge samples. The resulting dataset will contain the reference dataset, which will be identical to the input reference data, with adjustment factors of 0, and the newly bridged dataset.

# Find shared samples
npx_1 <- npx_data1 %>%
  mutate(dataset = "data1") 
npx_2 <- npx_data2 %>%
  mutate(dataset = "data2")

overlap_samples <-data.frame(SampleID = intersect(npx_1$SampleID, npx_2$SampleID)) %>%
  filter(!str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL_SAMPLE")) %>% #Remove control samples
  pull(SampleID)

overlap_samples_list <- list("DF1" = overlap_samples,
                             "DF2" = overlap_samples)

# Perform Bridging normalization
npx_br_data <- olink_normalization_bridge(project_1_df = npx_1,
                                          project_2_df = npx_2,
                                          bridge_samples = overlap_samples_list,
                                          project_1_name = "20200001",
                                          project_2_name = "20200002",
                                          project_ref_name = "20200001")
dplyr::glimpse(npx_br_data)
#> Rows: 61,824
#> Columns: 19
#> $ Index         <int> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1…
#> $ OlinkID       <chr> "OID01216", "OID01216", "OID01216", "OID01216", "OID0121…
#> $ UniProt       <chr> "O00533", "O00533", "O00533", "O00533", "O00533", "O0053…
#> $ Assay         <chr> "CHL1", "CHL1", "CHL1", "CHL1", "CHL1", "CHL1", "CHL1", …
#> $ MissingFreq   <dbl> 0.01875, 0.01875, 0.01875, 0.01875, 0.01875, 0.01875, 0.…
#> $ Panel_Version <chr> "v.1201", "v.1201", "v.1201", "v.1201", "v.1201", "v.120…
#> $ PlateID       <chr> "Example_Data_1_CAM.csv", "Example_Data_1_CAM.csv", "Exa…
#> $ QC_Warning    <chr> "Pass", "Pass", "Pass", "Pass", "Pass", "Pass", "Pass", …
#> $ LOD           <dbl> 2.368467, 2.368467, 2.368467, 2.368467, 2.368467, 2.3684…
#> $ NPX           <dbl> 12.956143, 11.269477, 25.451070, 14.453038, 7.628712, 6.…
#> $ Subject       <chr> "ID1", "ID1", "ID1", "ID2", "ID2", "ID2", "ID3", "ID3", …
#> $ Treatment     <chr> "Untreated", "Untreated", "Untreated", "Untreated", "Unt…
#> $ Site          <chr> "Site_D", "Site_D", "Site_D", "Site_C", "Site_C", "Site_…
#> $ Time          <chr> "Baseline", "Week.6", "Week.12", "Baseline", "Week.6", "…
#> $ Project       <chr> "20200001", "20200001", "20200001", "20200001", "2020000…
#> $ Panel         <chr> "Olink Cardiometabolic", "Olink Cardiometabolic", "Olink…
#> $ dataset       <chr> "data1", "data1", "data1", "data1", "data1", "data1", "d…
#> $ Adj_factor    <dbl> 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,…
#> $ SampleID      <chr> "A1", "A2", "A3", "A4", "A5", "A6", "A7", "A8", "CONTROL…

Perform bridging with non-matching sample names

olink_normalization_bridge() also supports data where the shared samples (bridge samples) are not named the same in both projects. In this case the overlap_sample_list will contain 2 arrays of equal length where the index of each entry corresponds to the same sample. For example, if a sample had the SampleID of Sample_1_Aliquot_1 in the first batch and Sample_1_Aliquot_2 in the second batch, then the overlap sample list should look as the following.

overlap_sample_list <-list("DF1" = c("A1", "A2", "A3", "Sample_1_Aliquot_1"),
                           "DF2" = c("A1", "A2", "A3", "Sample_1_Aliquot_2")) 

Perform evaluation of bridging normalization

First, check NPX distribution in datasets after bridging normalization.

# Plot NPX density after bridging normalization

npx_br_data %>%
  mutate(Panel = gsub("Olink ", "", Panel)) %>%
  ggplot2::ggplot(ggplot2::aes(x = NPX, fill = dataset)) +
  ggplot2::geom_density(alpha = 0.4) +
  ggplot2::facet_grid(~Panel) +
  olink_fill_discrete(coloroption = c("red", "darkblue")) +
  set_plot_theme() +
  ggplot2::ggtitle("After bridging normalization: NPX distribution") +
  theme(axis.title.x = element_blank(),
        axis.title.y = element_blank(),
        strip.text = element_text(size = 16),
        legend.title = element_blank(),
        legend.position = "top")

Then, summarize number of assays that have adjustment factors in certain ranges. High adjustment factors can result from variations between projects, such as panel versions or technical modifications. The cutoff of a deviating adjustment factor is subjective and depends on a variety of factors including the distribution of adjustment factors.

Such assays can be visualized individually with violin plots and may warrant further investigation to confirm they are still comparable between projects. For example, if a violin plot exhibits a different range or truncated distribution, this may suggest that the assay is below LOD or at hook in one of the data sets. However, as long as the bridge samples are not at hook or below LOD, this should not impact the bridging quality. For projects with differing clinical phenotypes, it is more informative to look at the similarities between the bridging samples than the similarity between the datasets.

The distribution of CHL1 between projects is visualized for demonstration purposes.

# Bridge sample data
bridge_samples <- npx_1 %>%
  rbind(npx_2) %>%
  filter(SampleID %in% overlapping_samples) %>%
  filter(Assay == "CHL1") %>%
  mutate(Assay_OID = paste(Assay, OlinkID, sep = "\n"))

# Generate violin plot for CHL1
npx_data1 %>%
  mutate(Project = "20200001") %>%
  bind_rows({
    npx_data2 %>%
      mutate(Project = "20200002")
  }) %>%
  filter(Assay == "CHL1") %>%
  filter(!str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL*.")) %>%
  mutate(Assay_OID = paste(Assay, OlinkID, sep = "\n")) %>% 
  ggplot2::ggplot(aes(Project, NPX)) +
  ggplot2::geom_violin(aes(fill = Project)) +
  geom_point(data = bridge_samples, position = position_jitter(0.1)) +
  theme(legend.position = "none") +
  set_plot_theme() +
  facet_wrap(. ~ Assay_OID, scales='free_y')

Another way to determine if bridging decreased variability between projects is to calculate the CV before and after bridging the projects. Note that the CV calculation formula differs for Target 96 and Explore projects.


explore_cv <- function(npx, na.rm = F) {
  sqrt(exp((log(2) * sd(npx, na.rm = na.rm))^2) - 1)*100
}

t96_cv <- function(NPX, na.rm = T) {
  100*sd(2^NPX)/mean(2^NPX)
}

tech <- "Explore"

cv_before <- npx_1 %>% 
  rbind(npx_2) %>% 
  filter(str_detect(SampleID,"CONTROL*.")) %>%
  filter(NPX > LOD) %>%
  group_by(OlinkID) %>%
  mutate(CV = ifelse(tech=='Explore',explore_cv(NPX), t96_cv(NPX))) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  distinct(OlinkID,CV)


cv_after <- npx_br_data %>%
  filter(str_detect(SampleID, "CONTROL")) %>%
  filter(NPX > LOD) %>%
  group_by(OlinkID) %>%
  mutate(CV = ifelse(tech=='Explore',explore_cv(NPX), t96_cv(NPX))) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  distinct(OlinkID,CV)

cv_before %>%
  mutate(Analysis = "Before") %>%
  rbind((cv_after %>%
           mutate(Analysis = "After"))) %>%
  ggplot2::ggplot(ggplot2::aes(x = CV, fill = Analysis)) +
  ggplot2::geom_density(alpha = 0.7) +
  set_plot_theme() +
  olink_fill_discrete()+
  ggplot2::theme(text = ggplot2::element_text(size = 20)) + ggplot2::xlim(-50,400)

Finally, use PCA plot to check whether bridging normalization has effect in correcting batch effects. In the example below, it is clear that before bridging samples from data 1 and 2 are divided into separate clusters due to the batch effects, but after bridging they are shown as one cluster in the PCA plot. Bridging normalization has sufficiently removed the batch effects between two data sets.

## After bridging

### Generate unique SampleIDs

npx_after_br <- npx_br_data %>%
  dplyr::mutate(Type = ifelse(SampleID %in% overlapping_samples, 
                              paste(Project, "Bridge"),
                              paste(Project, "Sample"))) %>%
  dplyr:::mutate(SampleID = paste0(Project, PlateID, SampleID))

### PCA plot
OlinkAnalyze::olink_pca_plot(df          = npx_after_br,
                             color_g     = "Type",
                             byPanel     = TRUE)

PCA plot of combined datasets after bridging

Export Bridged data

Normalized data can be exported using write.table to export long format data. Note that 2 columns are added during the bridging process, so to have the input format match the export format the Project and Adj_factor columns will need to be removed. To export the new project, dplyr::filter can be used to filter by Project.

new_normalized_data <- npx_br_data %>% 
  dplyr::filter(Project == "20200002") %>% 
  dplyr::select(-Project, -Adj_factor) %>% 
  write.table(, file = "New_Normalized_NPX_data.csv", sep = ";")

Contact us

We are always happy to help. Email us with any questions: