Abstract
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, which ranks top in both incidence and mortality. To broaden our understanding of the lipid metabolic alterations in NSCLC and to identify potential biomarkers for early diagnosis, we performed nontargeted lipidomics analysis in serum from 66 early-stage NSCLC, 40 lung benign disease patients (LBD), and 40 healthy controls (HC) using Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS). The identified biomarker candidates of phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) were further externally validated in a cohort including 30 early-stage NSCLC, 30 LBD, and 30 HC by a targeted lipidomic analysis. We observed a significantly altered lipid metabolic profile in early-stage NSCLC and identified panels of PCs and PEs to distinguish NSCLC patients and HC. The levels of PCs and PEs were found to be dysregulated in glycerophospholipid metabolism, which was the top altered pathway in early-stage NSCLC. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that panels of PCs and PEs exhibited good performance in differentiating early-stage NSCLC and HC. The levels of PE(16:0/16:1), PE(16:0/18:3), PE(16:0/18:2), PE(18:0/16:0), PE(17:0/18:2), PE(18:0/17:1), PE(17:0/18:1), PE(20:5/16:0), PE(18:0/18:1), PE(18:1/20:4), PE(18:0/20:3), PC(15:0/18:1), PC(16:1/20:5), and PC(18:0/20:1) in early-stage NSCLC were significantly increased compared with HC (p<0.05). Overall, our study has thus highlighted the power of using comprehensive lipidomic approaches to identify biomarkers and underlying mechanisms in NSCLC.
Highlights
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, which ranks top in both incidence and mortality [1]
The patients were selected according to the following criteria: (1) all patients were diagnosed and confirmed by pathology; (2) patients with Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were at the early stages (Stages I, II) according the clinical staging method; (3) patients had no other diseases which might affect lipid metabolism such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and other cancers; and (4) none of the patients received preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy
We identified PCs and PEs showing significant differences of serum concentration among healthy controls (HC), early-stage NSCLC, and lung benign disease patients (LBD) patients
Summary
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, which ranks top in both incidence and mortality [1]. Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for 80% of all lung cancer cases, involves adenocarcinoma (ADC), squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), and large cell carcinoma. Despite the great progress made against NSCLC in recent years, the five-year survival rate of NSCLC is 15% approximately [2, 3]. NSCLC clinical diagnosis mainly depends on chest X-rays and computed tomography, but these techniques have low sensitivity and specificity. Biopsy is not desirable to frequently detect tumor because of its invasiveness [4,5,6]. The common tumor biomarkers used in NSCLC, such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
