Metabolomics Identifies Biomarker Signatures to Differentiate Pancreatic Cancer from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Early Diagnosis

Hongmin Xu; Lei Zhang; Hua Kang; Jie Liu; Jiandong Zhang; Jie Zhao; Shuye Liu

doi:10.1155/2021/9990768

Metabolomics Identifies Biomarker Signatures to Differentiate Pancreatic Cancer from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Early Diagnosis

Int J Endocrinol. 2021 Nov 25:2021:9990768. doi: 10.1155/2021/9990768. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Hongmin Xu¹, Lei Zhang¹, Hua Kang¹, Jie Liu¹, Jiandong Zhang¹, Jie Zhao¹, Shuye Liu¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin Institute of Hepatobiliary Disease, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Extracorporeal Life Support for Critical Diseases, Artificial Cell Engineering Technology Research Center, No. 83, Jintang Road, Hedong District, Tianjin 300170, China.

Abstract

Methods: Plasma metabolic profiles in 26 PC patients, 27 DM patients, and 23 healthy volunteers were examined using an ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry platform. Differential metabolite ions were then identified using the principal component analysis (PCA) model and the orthogonal partial least-squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) model. The diagnosis performance of metabolite biomarkers was validated by logistic regression models.

Results: We established a PCA model (R2X = 23.5%, Q2 = 8.21%) and an OPLS-DA model (R2X = 70.0%, R2Y = 84.9%, Q2 = 69.7%). LysoPC (16 : 0), catelaidic acid, cerebronic acid, nonadecanetriol, and asparaginyl-histidine were found to identify PC, with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 91%. Besides, lysoPC (16 : 0), lysoPC (16 : 1), lysoPC (22 : 6), and lysoPC (20 : 3) were found to differentiate PC from DM, with higher accuracy (68% versus 55%) and higher AUC values (72% versus 63%) than those of CA19-9. The diagnostic performance of metabolite biomarkers was finally validated by logistic regression models.

Conclusion: We succeeded in screening differential metabolite ions among PC and DM patients and healthy individuals, thus providing a preliminary basis for screening the biomarkers for the early diagnosis of PC.