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. 2023 Jun 28:13:1173424.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1173424. eCollection 2023.

LC-MS-based serum metabolomics analysis for the screening and monitoring of colorectal cancer

Yanan Yi  1 , Jianjian Wang  1 , Chengtong Liang  1 , Chuanli Ren  1 , Xu Lian  1 , Chongxu Han  1 , Wei Sun  2
Affiliations

LC-MS-based serum metabolomics analysis for the screening and monitoring of colorectal cancer

Yanan Yi et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a prevalent digestive system tumour with significant mortality and recurrence rates. Serum metabolomics, with its high sensitivity and high throughput, has shown potential as a tool to discover biomarkers for clinical screening and monitoring of the CRC patients.

Methods: Serum metabolites of 61 sex and age-matched healthy controls and 62 CRC patients (before and after surgical intervention) were analyzed using a ultra-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS). Statistical methods and pathway enrichment analysis were used to identify potential biomarkers and altered metabolic pathways.

Results: Our analysis revealed a clear distinction in the serum metabolic profile between CRC patients and healthy controls (HCs). Pathway analysis indicated a significant association with arginine biosynthesis, pyrimidine metabolism, pantothenate, and CoA biosynthesis. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis showed that 9 metabolites had significant diagnostic value for CRC, among them, Guanosine with Area Under the Curve (AUC) values of 0.951 for the training group and0.998 for the validation group. Furthermore, analysis of four specific metabolites (N-Phenylacetylasparticacid, Tyrosyl-Gamma-glutamate, Tyr-Ser and Sphingosine) in serum samples of CRC patients before and after surgery indicated a return to healthy levels after an intervention.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that serum metabolomics may be a valuable tool for the screening and monitoring of CRC patients.

Keywords: biomarkers; colorectal cancer; liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer; monitoring; screening; serum metabolomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study workflow. CRC, colorectal cancer; HC, healthy control.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Analysis of metabolic profiling of CRC and HC. (A) Metabolic score plot of OPLS-DA. (B) Volcano analysis of the metabolites of CRC group and HC group in the discovery group. (C) Altered metabolic pathways in colorectal cancer. (D) AUC value of three metabolites in the discovery group. (E) AUC value of three metabolites in the validation group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Heat map of 9 CRC-related differential metabolites in CRC,healthy control and post-surgery group. “*” marked the four metabolites which returned to normal levels (A). The box plots of these 4 metabolites of healthy controls, CRC group and the post-surgery group (B). “ns” p >0.05; “***”p < 0.001.
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