Abstract
Anticancer treatment induces systemic molecular changes that could be detected at the level of biofluids. Understanding how human metabolism is influenced by these treatments is crucial to predict the individual response and adjust personalized therapies. Here, we aimed to compare profiles of metabolites in serum of head and neck cancer patients treated with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, or induction chemotherapy. Serum samples were analyzed by a targeted quantitative approach using combined direct flow injection and liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, which allowed simultaneous quantification of 149 metabolites. There were 45 metabolites whose levels were significantly changed between pretreatment and within- or post-treatment serum samples, including 38 phospholipids. Concurrent chemo-radiotherapy induced faster and stronger effects than radiotherapy alone. On the other hand, chemotherapy alone did not result in significant changes. The decreased level of total phospholipids was the most apparent effect observed during the first step of the treatment. This corresponded to the loss of patients’ body mass, yet no correlation between both parameters was observed for individual patients. We concluded that different molecular changes were measured at the level of serum metabolome in response to different treatment modalities.
Highlights
The primary goal of every cancer treatment is to eliminate as many tumor cells as possible.preserving the function of the adjacent normal tissues is important, which poses a real challenge for treatment planning [1]
Two groups were treated with schemes involving ionizing radiation: radiotherapy alone (RT) and concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) involving cisplatin; samples were collected before, about 2 weeks after the start, and just after the end of a treatment
Chemotherapy alone is not a standard in head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC) treatment, a group treated with induction chemotherapy (ICT) was included and samples were collected before and after the treatment with cisplatin or cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil; sample B in this group corresponded to within-treatment sample B in the CCRT group regarding time and dose of administered drug (Figure 1)
Summary
The primary goal of every cancer treatment is to eliminate as many tumor cells as possible. Preserving the function of the adjacent normal tissues is important, which poses a real challenge for treatment planning [1]. The treatment of head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC) presents many challenges in particular since this region contains many critical structures that could be affected by tumor treatment or the tumor itself. Major treatment options next to surgery are chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment that utilizes the drug(s) to destroy cancer cells or prevent their growth [2]. Radiation therapy (RT), on the other hand, is the use Metabolites 2020, 10, 60; doi:10.3390/metabo10020060 www.mdpi.com/journal/metabolites
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