Lung cancer is the leading cause of all cancer related deaths worldwide. The 5-year survival rate ranges from 80% in early stages to less than 5% in advanced disease. Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) accounts for 80% of all lung malignancies, 40% of which are adenocarcinomas representing one of the most common lung cancer subtypes. Currently, prognosis is mostly determined based on the extension of disease at diagnosis. Thereby it has become evident that predicted and real outcomes can vary significantly, even for patients with the same stage of disease. Thus, novel biomarkers that refine prognosis with a reliable clinical significance are clearly needed. Therefore we aimed to implement an activity-based proteomics platform representing a powerful tool in the search for novel disease biomarkers.