Alteration of plasma metabolites associated with chemoradiosensitivity in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via untargeted metabolomics approach.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

To investigate the differences in plasma metabolomic characteristics between pathological complete response (pCR) and non-pCR patients and identify biomarker candidates for predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

METHODS:

A total of 46 ESCC patients were included in this study. Gas chromatography time-of- flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS) technology was applied to detect the plasma samples collected before nCRT via untargeted metabolomics analysis.

RESULTS:

Five differentially expressed metabolites (out of 109) was found in plasma between pCR and non-pCR groups. Compared with non-pCR group, isocitric acid (p = 0.0129), linoleic acid (p = 0.0137), citric acid (p = 0.0473) were upregulated, while L-histidine (p = 0.0155), 3'4 dihydroxyhydrocinnamic acid (p = 0.0339) were downregulated in the pCR plasma samples. Pathway analyses unveiled that citrate cycle (TCA cycle), glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolic pathway were associated with ESCC chemoradiosensitivity.

CONCLUSION:

The present study provided supporting evidence that GC-TOF/MS based metabolomics approach allowed identification of metabolite differences between pCR and non-pCR patients in plasma levels, and the systemic metabolic status of patients may reflect the response of ESCC patient to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

• Authors: Yaowen Zhang, Jianpo Wang, Ningtao Dai, Peng Han, Jian Li, Jiangman Zhao, Weilan Yuan, Jiahuan Zhou, Fuyou Zhou
• Journal: BMC cancer (BMC Cancer) Vol. 20 Issue 1 Pg. 835 (Sep 02 2020) ISSN: 1471-2407 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 32878621 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood)
• Chemoradiotherapy (methods)
• Esophageal Neoplasms (blood, pathology, therapy)
• Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (blood, pathology, therapy)
• Female
• Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
• Humans
• Male
• Metabolome
• Metabolomics (methods)
• Middle Aged
• Neoadjuvant Therapy (methods)
• Neoplasm Staging
• Prospective Studies
• Treatment Outcome