Metabolomics in endometrial cancer diagnosis: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy in the developed world. The prognosis of EC strongly depends on tumor stage, hence the importance of improving diagnosis. Metabolomics has recently appeared as a promising test for a non-invasive diagnosis of several diseases. Nevertheless, no metabolic marker has been approved for use in the routine practice. We aimed to provide an overview of metabolomics findings in the diagnosis of EC.

Material and methods: A systematic review was performed by searching eight electronic databases from their inception to October 2019 for studies assessing metabolomics in EC diagnosis. Extracted data included characteristics of patients and EC, serum concentration of metabolites in women with and without EC and its association with EC diagnosis, tumor behavior and pathological characteristics.

Results: Six studies with 732 women (356 cases and 376 controls) were included. Several metabolites were found able to predict the presence of EC, tumor behavior (progression and recurrence) and pathological characteristics (histotype, myometrial invasion and lymph vascular space invasion).

Conclusions: Metabolomics might be suitable for a non-invasive diagnosis and screening of EC, offering the possibility to predict tumor behavior and pathological characteristics. Further studies are necessary to validate these results.

Keywords: carcinoma; early detection; endometrial cancer; metabolomics; oncology; screening; tailored: precision.