Quantitative metabolomics for investigating the value of polyamines in the early diagnosis and therapy of colorectal cancer

Abstract

As an important biomarker for cancer, polyamine levels in body fluid could be employed for monitoring the colorectal cancer (CRC), however the role of polyamines in the development and therapeutics phases of CRC remains uncertain. In this paper, the relationship between polyamines and CRC development and therapeutics had been investigated by the study of changes in plasma polyamine levels during the precancerous, developmental and treatment phases of CRC. After inducing CRC in Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine, the animals were given a traditional Chinese medicine, Aidi injections. Firstly, the polyamine levels in the plasma of CRC, healthy and medicated rats were measured by UHPLC-MS/MS assay. In addition, Lasso regression analysis was used for screening and confirming the key markers, which can be employed for distinguishing the healthy and CRC rats as well as the CRC and medication rats. The results obtained showed that polyamine metabolism had been disrupted by CRC but returned to normal levels following Aidi injections and, in particular, putrescine and agmatine were closely correlated with CRC. Our results demonstrate the potential value of plasma polyamine metabolic profiling during the early diagnosis and medical treatment of CRC. Also, the integrated method of polyamine metabolite target analysis and lasso regression analysis can be applied in metabolomics for seeking the differential metabolites.

The Biology of Glial Cells and Their Complex Roles in Alzheimer’s Disease: New Opportunities in Therapy

“…Moreover, metabolic profiling of AD brains revealed that there was significant decline in PA concentrations, revealing another aspect of PAs [ 149 , 150 ]. Studies have shown that age-related region-specific decline of PAs in the cerebral cortex is increased by trauma, this directly suggests that PA system dysregulation may contribute to age-related impairments [ 122 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Moreover, in the serum of AD patients, it was seen that acetylated spermine, a derivative of spermidine, was downregulated [ 155 , 156 , 157 ].…”

Microbial Metabolites, Postbiotics, and Intestinal Epithelial Function

“…In fact, polyamine levels in the urine and serum of CRC patients are higher than those of healthy individuals, suggesting its possible application as a biomarker for early diagnosis. [ 65,66 ] Similarly, spermidine and spermine levels in the colonic mucosa of CRC individuals are threefold higher compared to normal colonic mucosa. [ 67–69 ] Bacteroides spp., Fusobacterium spp., and Escherichia coli are the main bacteria responsible for arginine metabolization to polyamines.…”

Chinese Medicines for Cancer Treatment from the Metabolomics Perspective

“…The two-drug treatment alone or co-therapy reversed the levels of 1,3-diaminopropane, cadaverine, and N-acetylputrescine. The team also used this metabolomics method to evaluate the efficacy of Aidi injections on CRC [91]. It was found that Aidi injection treatment could reverse polyamine metabolism, especially agmatine and putrescine, revealing that plasma polyamine could be a biomarker for both early diagnosis and medical treatment of CRC.…”