Evaluation of urinary nucleosides in breast cancer patients before and after tumor removal

Objective:Evaluation of altered urinary nucleosides before and after tumor removal of breast cancer (BCa).Design and methods:Targeted metabolite profiling of 14 urinary nucleosides was conducted with both pre- and post-operative female patients with BCa (n = 150, age: 46.6 ± 7.7 years), and female controls (n = 150, age: 46.8 ± 7.7 years) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled to on-line extraction.Results:Levels of modified nucleosides (5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxyuridine, P < 0.001; 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, P < 0.001; 1-methyladenosine, P < 0.02; N2,N2-dimethylguanosine, P < 0.001) were significantly higher in pre-operative patients than in both normal controls and post-operative patients.Conclusions:This approach could be used to further understand the pathogenesis of BCa as well as to evaluate the effects of medical treatment.