Plasm Metabolomics Study in Pulmonary Metastatic Carcinoma

Area of Science:

• Human metabolomics research
• Biomarker discovery for oncology
• Pulmonary disease diagnostics

Background:

• The lungs are a frequent site for cancer metastasis, making early detection crucial for reducing mortality.
• Human metabolomics studies plasma metabolites to identify differences between disease states.
• Investigating plasma metabolomics in patients with pulmonary metastatic carcinoma (PMC) and other lung diseases can reveal potential biomarkers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify low-molecular metabolites in plasma that can serve as biomarkers for screening lung metastases in healthy individuals.
• To discover plasma metabolites that differentiate pulmonary metastatic carcinoma (PMC) from benign pulmonary nodules (BPN) and primary lung cancer (PLC).
• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of identified metabolites using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Main Methods:

• Plasma samples were collected from patients with PMC, BPN, PLC, and healthy population groups (HPG).
• Multivariate statistical analysis was employed to identify significant low-molecular metabolites differentiating the groups.
• ROC curve analysis was used to verify the discriminating ability of the identified metabolites.

Main Results:

• Four metabolites (O-arachidonoyl ethanolamine, adrenoyl ethanolamide, tricin 7-diglucuronoside, p-coumaroyl vitisin A) distinguished PMC from HPG.
• Metabolites including anabasine, octanoylcarnitine, 2-methoxyestrone, retinol, decanoylcarnitine, calcitroic acid, glycogen, and austalide L differentiated between PMC, BPN, and PLC.
• Specific metabolites like L-tyrosine, indoleacrylic acid, lysoPC (16:0), L-octanoylcarnitine, retinol, and decanoylcarnitine showed high accuracy (AUC > 0.80) in differentiating PMC from BPN and PLC.

Conclusions:

• Plasma metabolomics can effectively detect altered low-molecular metabolites in patients with lung cancer and metastases.
• Identified significant metabolites demonstrate potential as biomarkers for the screening and differential diagnosis of lung metastases.
• These findings support the use of metabolomic profiling for improved detection and diagnosis of pulmonary metastatic carcinoma.