Metabolomics in pancreatic cancer biomarkers research

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the worst prognoses of all malignancies. More than 40,000 deaths a year from this disease are observed in European Union alone. The only possibly curative treatment of pancreatic cancer is surgery, yet only 15-20% of patients have operable disease and even patients, which go through surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, survival is less than 30%. The sensitive and specific biomarkers which could be used for the advance of early diagnostics are needed and constantly researched. Metabolomics is a technology which analyzes the concentrations of low-molecular-weight metabolites (the metabolome) has lately effectively developed due to the improvements in analytical technology. Metabolome analysis can be a one of the useful approaches for the biomarker discovery and disease diagnosis. Here we discuss recent discoveries in the field of pancreatic cancer metabolomics as well as the most promising biomarkers for diagnostics, prognosis and prediction.

Novel serum metabolomics‐based approach by gas chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry for detection of human skin cancers: Candidate biomarkers

“…Omics analysis can comprehensively analyze biomolecules . Recognized techniques include genomics for analyzing DNA, transcriptomics for analyzing messenger RNA, proteomics for analyzing protein and metabolomics for analyzing metabolites .…”

“…The target of metabolomics is the exhaustive analysis of these low molecular weight metabolites, which represent the final products of the omics cascade. Low molecular weight metabolites include amino acids and fatty acids, which can be found in the blood, urine and other bodily fluids, and tissues . These factors constitute the central dogma; metabolites represent the downstream products of the central dogma, whereas genomics and proteomics represent the upstream materials .…”

“…These factors constitute the central dogma; metabolites represent the downstream products of the central dogma, whereas genomics and proteomics represent the upstream materials . Thus, metabolomics reflect the current dynamic biochemical status of the body . If there is a change in cellular metabolism; for example, in the case of disease, the concentration of metabolites in blood and urine are subsequently altered .…”

Application of metabolomics in sarcoma: From biomarkers to therapeutic targets

“…In particular, tumor cells are known to possess unique metabolic signatures when compared with normal cells [12]. To date, metabolomic signatures have already been published from investigations aimed to discover biomarkers and treatment targets for several cancers such as colorectal, breast, liver, lung, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic [13-19]. The integration of “omic” data reveals more than the simple sum of the individual “omic” experiments and possibly provides access to understand the interactions among all of the cellular contents [20, 21].…”

Minimally invasive pancreatic cancer surgery: What is the current evidence?

“…In the remaining cases, local infiltration, invasion of surrounding vessels and the presence of early distant metastases are considered the major causes precluding radical surgical treatment. It has been calculated that in 2016 the rate of pancreatic cancer in European population was around 8/100,000 in men and 5.7/100,000 in women [3]. In a report published in 2016 by Ferlay et al, authors suggest there will be more deaths annually from pancreatic cancer in the European Union countries than deaths from breast cancer.…”