Diagnostic Value of 1H NMR-Based Metabolomics in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and Breast Cancer

Abstract

Cancer refers to a massive number of diseases distinguished by the development of abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably and have the capability of infiltration and destroying the normal body tissue. It is critical to detect biomarkers that are early detectable and noninvasive to save millions of lives. The aim of the present work is to use NMR as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for cancer diseases. This study included 30 plasma and 21 urine samples of patients diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 25 plasma and 17 urine samples of patients diagnosed with breast cancer (BC), and 9 plasma and urine samples obtained from healthy individuals as controls. They were prepared for NMR measurements; then, the metabolites were identified and the data were analyzed using multivariate statistical procedures. The OPLS-DA score plots clearly discriminated ALL, AML, and BC from healthy controls. Plots of the PLS-DA loadings and S-line plots showed that all metabolites in plasma were greater in BC than in the healthy controls, whereas lactate, O-acetylcarnitine, pyruvate, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), and glucose were higher in healthy controls than in ALL and AML. On the other hand, urine samples showed lower amounts of lactate, melatonin, pyruvate, and succinate in all of the studied types of cancer when compared to those of healthy controls. 1H NMR can be a successful and noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of different types of cancer.