Emerging Role of Metabolomics in Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is considered a silent killer due to the lack of clear symptoms and efficient diagnostic tools that often lead to late diagnoses. Over recent years, the impelling need for proficient biomarkers has led researchers to consider metabolomics, an emerging omics science that deals with analyses of the entire set of small-molecules (≤1.5 kDa) present in biological systems. Metabolomics profiles, as a mirror of tumor–host interactions, have been found to be useful for the analysis and identification of specific cancer phenotypes. Cancer may cause significant metabolic alterations to sustain its growth, and metabolomics may highlight this, making it possible to detect cancer in an early phase of development. In the last decade, metabolomics has been widely applied to identify different metabolic signatures to improve ovarian cancer diagnosis. The aim of this review is to update the current status of the metabolomics research for the discovery of new diagnostic metabolomic biomarkers for ovarian cancer. The most promising metabolic alterations are discussed in view of their potential biological implications, underlying the issues that limit their effective clinical translation into ovarian cancer diagnostic tools.

Wide-Targeted Metabolome Analysis Identifies Potential Biomarkers for Prognosis Prediction of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

“…Regarding other lipids, a significant increase in TGs and a significant decrease in CEs were observed in EOC patients [ 16 , 18 ]. Previous studies on metabolomic profiling of ovarian cancer patient samples have not reported consistent results on TGs, and there are only a few studies analyzing CEs.…”

“…Reactions involving these amino acids are regulated by the metabolic reprogramming of cancer [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. In ovarian cancer, decreased levels of methionine, alanine, histidine, tryptophan, lysine, valine, and threonine have been detected [ 16 , 18 ]. Here, we found significantly increased levels of lysine, isoleucine, aspartic acid, glycine, and threonine, and significantly decreased levels of histidine, valine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and glutamine in the plasma of patients with EOC.…”

“…By targeting specific metabolites related to the proliferation, progression, and metastasis of cancer cells, some studies have developed therapeutic strategies for various cancers, thereby demonstrating that metabolomics profiling is a valuable strategy for identifying new cancer risk biomarkers [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Recent comparative studies of ovarian cancer patients and healthy female volunteers have identified biomarkers from tissue, plasma, and urine samples [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. To date, only CA-125, one of the serum cancer antigens, is recommended as a biomarker for diagnosis or follow-up in daily practice but its sensitivity and specificity are not so high against EOC [ 19 ].…”

Precision medicine approaches in metabolic disorders and target organ damage: where are we now, and where are we going?

“…Multi-faceted and incompletely understood pathomechanisms explain the associations of obesity, T2D, or other metabolic derangements and increased risk of mortality due to ovarian cancer. These include dysregulated adipokine and cytokine profiles in subjects with excess adipose tissue and the ensuing altered immune responses and altered endocrine functions that can promote pro-tumorigenic signal transduction pathways [60] . Ovarian cancer is deemed to be "a silent killer", owing to the risk of late diagnosis resulting from non-specific clinical presentation and lack of any effective diagnostic techniques [61] .…”

Metabolomic Analysis of Actinic Keratosis and SCC Suggests a Grade-Independent Model of Squamous Cancerization

“…Advancement of analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has enabled the quantitative identification of a wide range of metabolites using a very small volume of sample [ 14 ]. Metabolic profiling was already applied to the study of cancer biology [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], also with the aim of identifying potential predictive disease biomarkers. A recent study already identified potential biomarkers of AK through integrated metabolomics and histopathological analysis, with the aim of investigating the effects of the field cancerization treatment [ 19 ].…”