Characterization of metabolomic associated with pancreatic cancer patients with overweight and obesity

Abstract

Background and aims: The near equal incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer, combined with projections that by 2050 pancreatic cancer will be the second-most fatal cancer, underscore the need to identify patients with early disease and thus interrupt this trajectory. Obesity, weight gain and waistline have been implicated in increasing the risk of pancreatic cancer. Factors such as inflammation, insulin resistance, and changes in intestinal microbiome have been suggested to be involved in obesity. Although metabolomic analyses of pancreatic cancer patients have established correlations between phospholipids, lysophospholipids with treatment outcomes, the association between metabolites, obesity, and pancreatic cancer remains largely understudied. We hypothesized that global metabolomic profile of obese and overweight pancreatic cancer patients will be different compared with healthy weight subjects with no cancer.

Methods: Global metabolic profiles were determined in obese and overweight pancreatic cancer patients compared with healthy weight subjects using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy.

Results: Analysis of the data using the Benjamini & Hochberg method to control the false discovery rate revealed statistically significant changes in branched chain amino acids, lipid metabolites including monoacyl glycerol, and fructose in overweight/obese pancreatic cancer patients relative to healthy weight.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that metabolomic pathways as potential targets for high-risk pancreatic cancer patients.

Keywords: Fructose; Lipids; Metabolomics; Monoacyl glycerol; Obesity; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.