Review of Mass Spectrometry–Based Metabolomics in Cancer Research

Abstract

Metabolomics, the systematic investigation of all metabolites present within a biological system, is used in biomarker development for many human diseases, including cancer. In this review we investigate the current role of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics in cancer research. A literature review was carried out within the databases PubMed, Embase and Web of Knowledge. We included 106 studies reporting on 21 different types of cancer in 7 different sample types. Metabolomics in cancer research is most often used for case-control comparisons. Secondary applications include translational areas, such as patient prognosis, therapy control and tumor classification or grading. Metabolomics is at a developmental stage with respect to epidemiology, with the majority of studies including <100 patients. Standardization is required especially concerning sample preparation and data analysis. In a second part of this review, we reconstructed a metabolic network of cancer patients by quantitatively extracting all reports of altered metabolites: Alterations in energy metabolism, membrane and fatty acid synthesis emerged, with tryptophan levels changed most frequently in various cancers. Metabolomics has the potential to evolve into a standard tool for future applications in epidemiology and translational cancer research, but further, large-scale studies including prospective validation are needed.

High-Resolution Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry Enables Large Scale Molecular Characterization of Dissolved Organic Matter

“…This enables structural annotations, which provide molecular level identification, through database comparison of tandem MS spectra and/or retention times (Vinaixa et al, 2016). Such an approach is common in metabolomic studies and has been extensively reviewed (Liesenfeld et al, 2013;Viant and Sommer, 2013;Gika et al, 2014;Rubert et al, 2015).…”

Ultra-filtration of human serum for improved quantitative analysis of low molecular weight biomarkers using ATR-IR spectroscopy

“…This is further supported by recent associations of pathological conditions with small protein and peptide profiles in serum, notably for diabetes 8 , cardiovascular or infectious diseases 9 . The number of studies related to serum proteomics, peptidomics or metabololics has literary exploded in the literature, complex analytical techniques such as chromatography and/or mass spectroscopy being the reference tools 10,11 . Quite naturally, vibrational spectroscopy, which has been widely employed in biomedical analysis, from tissue sections 12,13 to single cells 14,15 with a well demonstrated potential for diagnosis 16,17 , has the capability to become the next generation gold standard tool for serum based patient screening [18][19][20] .…”

Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, and Tryptophan in Gastroesophageal Malignancy: A Systematic Review

“…A recent review demonstrated that tryptophan was the metabolite with the most frequently altered concentrations across several cancer types (6). Patients with esophageal cancer have reduced plasma levels of 14 separate amino acids, including tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan (7).…”