The Distinctive Serum Metabolomes of Gastric, Esophageal and Colorectal Cancers
1
Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Diabetes Mellitus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200233, China
2
Cancer Biology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
3
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cancers 2021, 13(4), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13040720
Submission received: 27 December 2020
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Revised: 18 January 2021
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Accepted: 7 February 2021
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Published: 10 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insights into Cancer Metabolism from Metabolomics)
Simple Summary
Cancer of the stomach, esophagus and colon are often fatal. Ways are being sought to establish patient-friendly screening tests that would allow these cancers to be detected earlier. Examination of the metabolomics results of cancer patient’s serum for certain metabolites unique for a particular cancer was the goal of this review. From studies conducted within the past five years several metabolites were found to be changed in cancer compared to non-cancer patients for each of the three cancers. Further confirmation of what was discovered in this review coupled with establishment of standard protocols may allow for cancer screening on patient blood samples to become routine clinical tests.
Abstract
Three of the most lethal cancers in the world are the gastrointestinal cancers—gastric (GC), esophageal (EC) and colorectal cancer (CRC)—which are ranked as third, sixth and fourth in cancer deaths globally. Early detection of these cancers is difficult, and a quest is currently on to find non-invasive screening tests to detect these cancers. The reprogramming of energy metabolism is a hallmark of cancer, notably, an increased dependence on aerobic glycolysis which is often referred to as the Warburg effect. This metabolic change results in a unique metabolic profile that distinguishes cancer cells from normal cells. Serum metabolomics analyses allow one to measure the end products of both host and microbiota metabolism present at the time of sample collection. It is a non-invasive procedure requiring only blood collection which encourages greater patient compliance to have more frequent screenings for cancer. In the following review we will examine some of the most current serum metabolomics studies in order to compare their results and test a hypothesis that different tumors, notably, from EC, GC and CRC, have distinguishing serum metabolite profiles.
