Altered phosphatidylcholines expression in sputum for diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

Jianyong Zhang,Huanwen Chen,Haiyan Lu,Jianjun Xu,Xingxing Liu,Jianwen Xiong,Jianhua Ding,Dongliang Yu,Penghui Li,Yiping Wei

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.11283

Abstract

Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and early diagnosis needs to be improved. We examined whether neutral desorption extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ND-EESI-MS) could be used to detect sputum lipids expression changes to enable earlier diagnosis. Overall, 167 NSCLC patients and 140 controls were enrolled. The main peaks in the sputum of patients with NSCLC patients differed from controls (83.3% of total variability), and the signals were not associated with pathological type, TNM stage or smoking history. The relative abundance of peaks at m/z734, m/ z756, m/z772, m/z782, m/z798 and m/z803 reliably distinguished NSCLC sputum from control. Collision-induced dissociation confirmed that m/z734, m/z756, and m/z772 represented [DPPC + H]+, [DPPC + Na]+, and [DPPC + K]+, respectively, and m/z782, m/z798, and m/z803 represented sphingomyelin, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylglycerolphosphate, respectively. The relative abundance of DPPC was clearly lower in NSCLC sputum than in control, and the relative abundances of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerolphosphate were higher in NSCLC sputum than in control. The detection of changes in sputum lipids with ND-EESI-MS may be a noninvasive, radiation-free, relatively inexpensive, repeatable, and efficient method for diagnosis of NSCLC.

Highlights

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in both men and women world wide [1]
We examined whether neutral desorption extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ND-EESI-MS) could be used to detect sputum lipids expression changes to enable earlier diagnosis
In our earlier study, using tissue spray ionization mass spectrometry (TIS–MS), we have reported that dipalmitoyl principal components (PCs) [DPPC + Na]+ was higher in normal tissue than in cancerous tissue [6]

Summary

Introduction

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in both men and women world wide [1]. There are two types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC, which accounts for 75%–85% of all lung cancers, predominantly comprises adenocarcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and large cell lung carcinomas [2]. The 5-year relative survival rate for NSCLC is 10%–18%. These low rates are partly because more than 65% of cases are diagnosed at a late stage, when the 5-year survival rate is only about 5%. There is an urgent need to improve the rate of early diagnosis of these tumors [3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion