Exploratory comparative profiling of 22 macro- and trace elements reveals disrupted elemental homeostasis in...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is associated with systemic and local alterations in element homeostasis, yet tissue-level data remain limited and inconsistent. This study quantitatively profiled 22 macro- and trace elements in paired tumorous and histopathologically confirmed adjacent non-tumorous colonic tissues from 15 CRC patients using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We observed significant accumulation of phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), Rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), titanium (Ti), gallium (Ga), niobium (Nb), and zirconium (Zr) in tumor tissues, alongside a significant decrease in cobalt (Co). The intratumoral copper-to-zinc (Cu/Zn) ratio showed a nominal elevation that did not survive false discovery rate (FDR) correction. Critically, the strong positive correlations among macroelements (e.g., P, Ca, Mg) and essential trace elements in human body (e.g., Fe, Zn, Cu, Mo) consistently observed in adjacent non-tumorous tissues were substantially weakened or abolished in tumor tissues, suggesting a systemic collapse of coordinated elemental regulation within the tumor microenvironment. These findings indicate that tumor tissues exhibit accumulation of certain elements, which is associated with the elevated biosynthetic demands of proliferating cells, whereas the broader disruption of elemental networks is correlated with CRC pathogenesis. The widespread disturbance of trace element compositional homeostasis, rather than individual element alterations, may represent a more integrative biomarker for CRC diagnosis and progression.