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. 2023 Dec;14(36):3522-3529.
doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.15154. Epub 2023 Nov 9.

Effect of chemotherapy on urinary volatile biomarkers for lung cancer by HS-SPME-GC-MS and chemometrics

Ricardo Rubio-Sánchez  1 , Rocío Ríos-Reina  2 , Cristina Ubeda  2
Affiliations

Effect of chemotherapy on urinary volatile biomarkers for lung cancer by HS-SPME-GC-MS and chemometrics

Ricardo Rubio-Sánchez et al. Thorac Cancer. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been studied as possible biomarkers in several diseases, including lung cancer. Early detection of cancer can improve long-term survival rates and the quality of life, so the study of VOCs in exhaled breath and urine has been increasing in recent years. This study aimed to assess the urinary VOCs that are modified after chemotherapy to identify those with the potential to be lung cancer biomarkers that can be monitored during treatment.

Methods: Three urine samples from 10 men with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma were collected, as well as urine samples from 14 men with other types of cancer (control group). All samples were analyzed by headspace-solid phase microextraction gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

Results: A total of 21 urinary VOCs were found with different levels after the administration of chemotherapy, with 2-pentanone being one of those that significantly decreased. Furthermore, 2-pentanone and 3-hydroxy-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl-2-methylpropanoate showed statistically significant differences with the control group.

Conclusions: Chemotherapy administered to patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma modified the volatile profile of urine. 2-Pentanone, a final product of the increased rate of fatty acid oxidation and protein hypermetabolism, significantly decreased after chemotherapy. Therefore, monitoring its urinary excretion could be very useful since its decrease over time could indicate an adequate response to chemotherapy and arrest of cancer development. Another VOC that could be a potential lung cancer biomarker is 3 hydroxy-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl-2-methylpropanoate, whose origin may be due to inhibition of the propanoic acid metabolic pathway or increased aldehyde dehydrogenase activity.

Keywords: 2-pentanone; adenocarcinoma; biomarker; chemotherapy; lung cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Variables with importance in the projection (VIP) evaluation process and feature reduction carried out for the prechemotherapy (CTX) and post‐CTX samples classification. (a) Principal component analysis (PCA) score plots with different datasets. (b) VIP score plots of partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) models.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Score (a) and loading (b) plots of the principal component analysis (PCA) model carried out with 21 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) selected as variables with importance in the projection (VIPs) and the prechemotherapy (CTX) and post‐CTX samples.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Score (a) and loading (b) plots of the partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) model carried out with the 21 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) selected as variables with importance in the projection (VIPs) between prechemotherapy (CTX) lung cancer and the control group samples. VOCs with VIP ≥1 obtained from the PLS‐DA model are highlighted in purple in the loadings plot.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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