Alteration of plasma metabolites associated with chemoradiosensitivity in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via untargeted metabolomics approach.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:To investigate the differences in plasma metabolomic characteristics between pathological complete response (pCR) and non-pCR patients and identify biomarker candidates for predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS:A total of 46 ESCC patients were included in this study. Gas chromatography time-of- flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS) technology was applied to detect the plasma samples collected before nCRT via untargeted metabolomics analysis. RESULTS:Five differentially expressed metabolites (out of 109) was found in plasma between pCR and non-pCR groups. Compared with non-pCR group, isocitric acid (p?=?0.0129), linoleic acid (p?=?0.0137), citric acid (p?=?0.0473) were upregulated, while L-histidine (p?=?0.0155), 3'4 dihydroxyhydrocinnamic acid (p?=?0.0339) were downregulated in the pCR plasma samples. Pathway analyses unveiled that citrate cycle (TCA cycle), glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolic pathway were associated with ESCC chemoradiosensitivity. CONCLUSION:The present study provided supporting evidence that GC-TOF/MS based metabolomics approach allowed identification of metabolite differences between pCR and non-pCR patients in plasma levels, and the systemic metabolic status of patients may reflect the response of ESCC patient to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7466788 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature