Journal of Breast Disease, 2019. 7(20, 44-51, DOI: https://doi.org/10.14449/jbd.2019.7.2.44

Urinary Metabolites as Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Breast Cancer: A Preliminary Study

Jiwon Park, Yumi Shin;Tae Hyun Kim;Dong-Hyun Kim;Anbok Lee

Abstract

Purpose: For early detection of breast cancer, tests with high sensitivity and specificity are needed. Metabolomics, the study of chemical processesinvolving metabolites, can be used to identify diagnostic biomarkers for a variety of types of cancers. In this study we identified biomarkersof breast cancer by profiling urinary metabolites.

Methods: We performed metabolite profiling of 30 urine samples from 14 patientswith breast cancer and 16 healthy controls by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. An orthogonal partial least squares-discriminantanalysis (OPLS-DA), Student’s t-test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed to identify metabolites that werepotential diagnostic biomarkers for breast cancer.

Results: The OPLS-DA showed clear separation between the two groups. Of the 95 metabolitesdetected, 24 potential biomarkers were identified by Student’s t-test. A ROC analysis showed that concentrations of N-(2-furoyl)glycine, histidine, and D-tagarose were significantly higher (area under the ROC curve [AUC] >0.7) and those of trigonellinamide, L-galacto-2-heptulose, creatinine, and xanthine were significantly lower (AUC ≥0.8) in the patients with breast cancer than in the healthy controls.

Conclusion: Measurement of the concentrations of urinary metabolites can be used to screen for early breast cancer. We plan to explore diagnosticbiomarkers of breast cancer in blood and urine further in a larger study.

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.14449/jbd.2019.7.2.44
• ISBN or ISSN: 2288-5560

• 본 연구는 질병관리본부 연구개발과제연구비를 지원받아 수행되었습니다.
• This research was supported by a fund by Research of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.