Metabonomics Investigation of Lung Adenocarcinoma in Male Patients Based on Liquid Chromatography-mass Spectrometry

Objective To investigate the plasma metabolic profiles of lung adenocarcinoma in male patients by rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(RRLC-Q-TOF-MS)-based metabolomics method, to provide the basis for early diagnosis.

Methods Metabolomics analysis was carried out for serum samples between 20 healthy controls and 17 lung adenocarcinoma patients. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were carried out for pattern recognition and characteristic metabolites identification. Metabolic characteristics of patients with lung adenocarcinoma were investigated according to the differences of metabolic groups.

Results Multivariate statistical analysis yielded a significant distinction in metabolic profiles between healthy and lung adenocarcinoma groups. The t-test results indicated a total of 16 biomarkers with statistically significant differences.

Conclusion Based on the analysis of metabolic pathways, lysophosphatidylcholine, acylcarnitine, fatty acid and other substances in lung adenocarcinoma patients are disordered. These different metabolites could be helpful for diagnosing lung adenocarcinoma.