Metabolomic and elemental profiling of human tissue in kidney cancer.

Abstract

Introduction Kidney cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed and the most lethal urinary cancer. Despite advances in treatment, no specifc biomarker is currently in use to guide therapeutic interventions. Objectives Major aim of this work was to perform metabolomic and elemental profling of human kidney cancer and normal tissue and to evaluate cancer biomarkers. Methods Metabolic and elemental profling of tumor and adjacent normal human kidney tissue from 50 patients with kidney cancer was undertaken using three diferent analytical methods. Results Five potential tissue biomarkers of kidney cancer were identifed and quantifed using with high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The contents of selected chemical elements in tissues was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Eleven mass spectral features diferentiating between kidney cancer and normal tissues were detected using silver-109 nanoparticle enhanced steel target laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Conclusions Our results, derived from the combination of ICP-OES, LDI MS and 1H NMR methods, suggest that tissue biomarkers identifed herein appeared to have great potential for use in clinical prognosis and/or diagnosis of kidney cancer.