Metabolomic profiling of blood plasma in patients with primary brain tumours: Basal plasma metabolites correlated with tumour grade and plasma biomarker analysis predicts feasibility of the successful statistical discrimination from healthy subjects – a preliminary study

AbstractThe brain tumours represent a complex tissue that has its own characteristic metabolic features and is interfaced with the whole organism. We investigated changes in basal blood plasma metabolites in the presence of primary brain tumour, their correlation with tumour grade, as well as the feasibility of statistical discrimination based on plasma metabolites. Together 60 plasma samples from patients with clinically defined glioblastoma, meningioma, oligodendrioglioma, astrocytoma, and non ‐specific glial tumour and plasma samples from 28 healthy volunteers without any cancer history were measured by NMR spectroscopy. In blood plasma of primary brain tumour patients, we found significantly increased levels of glycolytic metabolites glucose and pyruvate, and significantly decreased l evel of glutamine and also metabolites participating in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, citrate and succinate, when compared with controls. Further, plasma metabolites levels: tyrosine, phenylalanine, glucose, creatine and creatinine correlated significantly with tumour grade. In general, observed c hanges are parallel to the biochemistry expected for tumourous tissue and metabolic changes in plasma seem to follow the similar rules in all primary brain tumours, with very subtle variations among tumour types. Only two plasma metabolites tyrosine and phenylalanine were increased exclusively in bl ood plasma of patients with glioblastoma. Based on metabolite levels, an excellent discriminatio...
Source: IUBMB Life - Category: Research Authors: Tags: RESEARCH COMMUNICATION Source Type: research