Asparagine metabolism in tumors is linked to poor survival in females with colorectal cancer: A cohort study

Abstract

Background or PurposeThe interplay between the sex-specific differences in tumor metabolome and colorectal cancer (CRC) prognosis has never been studied and represents an opportunity to improve patient outcomes. This study aims to examine the link between tumor metabolome and prognosis by sex for CRC patients.MethodsUsing untargeted metabolomics analysis, abundances of 91 metabolites were obtained from primary tumor tissues from 197 patients (N=95 females, N=102 males) after surgical colectomy for stage I-III CRC. Cox Proportional Hazards (PH) regression models were applied to estimate the associations between tumor metabolome and 5-year overall survival (OS) and 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), and their interactions with sex.ResultsEleven metabolites had significant sex differences in their associations with 5-year OS, and five metabolites for 5-year RFS (Pinteraction < .05). The metabolites asparagine and serine had sex interactions for both OS and RFS. Furthermore, sex-specific differences were found in the associations between prognosis and metabolic pathways. Notably, in the asparagine synthetase (ASNS)-catalyzed asparagine synthesis pathway, asparagine was associated with substantially poorer OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 6.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.78-22.91, P = .004) and RFS (HR = 4.36, 95% CI = 1.39-13.68, P = .01) for female patients only (Pinteraction, OS = .02, Pinteraction, RFS = .003). Similar prognostic disadvantages in females were seen in lysophospholipid and polyamine synthesis.Discussion or ConclusionsUnique metabolite profiles indicated increased asparagine synthesis was associated with poorer prognosis for females only, providing insights into precision medicine for CRC treatment stratified by sex.