Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) remains the most prevalent oncologic pathology in women, causing huge psychological, economic and social impacts on our society. Currently, the available diagnostic tools have limited sensitivity and specificity. Metabolome analysis has emerged as a powerful tool for obtaining information about the biological processes that occur in organisms, and is a useful platform for discovering new biomarkers or make disease diagnosis using different biofluids. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the headspace of cultured BC cells and normal human mammary epithelial cells, were collected by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC–MS), thus defining a volatile metabolomic signature. 2-Pentanone, 2-heptanone, 3-methyl-3-buten-1-ol, ethyl acetate, ethyl propanoate and 2-methyl butanoate were detected only in cultured BC cell lines. Multivariate statistical methods were used to verify the volatomic differences between BC cell lines and normal cells in order to find a set of specific VOCs that could be associated with BC, providing comprehensive insight into VOCs as potential cancer biomarkers. The establishment of the volatile fingerprint of BC cell lines presents a powerful approach to find endogenous VOCs that could be used to improve the BC diagnostic tools and explore the associated metabolomic pathways.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) remains the most prevalent oncologic pathology in women, causing huge psychological, economic and social impacts on our society
It is well known that BC is heterogeneous and that its prognosis and treatment depends on the molecular subtype of the cancer cells
The Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) arising from the cellular metabolism were studied using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME)/GC-MS: (a) by direct analysis of the headspace of the culture flasks after cell growth; and (b) by analysis of the volatile metabolites from the culture media at different pH values
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) remains the most prevalent oncologic pathology in women, causing huge psychological, economic and social impacts on our society. Current screening techniques include self-examination for lumps or nodes, mammography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and biopsy using a fine needle or similar instrument to aspirate or otherwise remove a sample of fluid or cells from any suspicious lump or node for microscopic examination[8] These methods are generally invasive, time-consuming and require special medical skills. Solid-phase microextraction in headspace mode (HS-SPME), which was developed by the Pawliszyn group[17] in the early 90’s and consists of a fiber coated with different polymers extracting a wide range of chemical compounds, was selected as an extraction technique This technique is superior to other extraction techniques, in that it is rapid, easy to use, sensitive and does not require a concentration step before analysis
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