Discrimination between malignant and benign ovarian tumors by plasma metabolomic profiling using ultra performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

BackgroundDiscrimination between epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and benign ovarian tumor (BOT) has always been difficult in clinical practice. We investigated the application of metabolomics in distinguishing EOC and BOT and tried to discover valuable biomarkers.MethodsPlasma metabolomic profiling was performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS). Partial least-squares discriminant analysis was employed to classify EOC and BOT, and reveal their metabolic differences. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) was utilized to evaluate the predictive performance of the metabolic profiles for external validation set.ResultsThe metabolomic profiles consisting of 535 metabolites revealed a clear separation between EOC and BOT, with AUC of 0.86 for the external validation set. 6 metabolic biomarkers were identified, and the plasma concentrations of the 4 ascertained biomarkers (L-tryptophan, LysoPC(18:3), LysoPC(14:0), and 2-Piperidinone) were lower in EOC patients than those in BOT patients. Among them, tryptophan and LysoPC have been suspected to participate in cancer progression, and 2-Piperidinone might be a novel biomarker for EOC.ConclusionsMetabolomics could be used to discriminate EOC from BOT in clinical practice, and the identified metabolic biomarkers might be important on investigating the biological mechanisms of EOC.

► Plasma metabolic profiles can discriminate malignant and benign ovarian tumor.
► Down-regulation of L-tryptophan was observed in malignant compared with benign ovarian tumor.
► Down-regulation of LysoPC metabolism was observed in plasma for ovarian cancer patients.
► 2-Piperidinone might be a novel biomarker for ovarian cancer.