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Abnormalities in Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acid Profiles of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Lipids

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. In the present study, we aimed to profile the possible changes in plasma phospholipid fatty acid composition of HCC patients, and to identify the fatty acid biomarkers that could distinguish HCC patients from healthy controls. A total of 37 plasma samples from healthy controls and HCC patients were collected and their phospholipid fatty acid profiles were characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry followed by multivariate statistical analysis. Twenty-five fatty acids were identified and quantified, their proportions varied greatly between two groups, suggesting each group has its own fatty acid pattern. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis in terms of fatty acid profiles showed that HCC patients could be clearly distinguished from healthy controls. More importantly, linoleic acid (18:2n-6), oleic acid (18:1n-9), arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) and palmitic acid (16:0) were identified as the potential fatty acid biomarkers of HCC patients. Additionally, to further identify the major cause of the abnormality of plasma fatty acid profile, fatty acid distributions of cancerous tissue and its surrounding tissue from 42 HCC patients were also examined. Due to have similar variation trend of major fatty acid biomarkers, linoleic acid (18:2n-6), oleic acid (18:1n-9), abnormalities in plasma phospholipid fatty acid profiles of HCC patients may be mainly attributed to the alternation of intrinsic fatty acid metabolism caused by cancer per se, but not to the differences in dietary factors.

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Abbreviations

ALA:

α-Linolenic acid

EI:

Electron impact

DPA:

Docosapentaenoic acid

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl ester(s)

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

HPTLC:

High performance thin-layer chromatography

MUFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acid(s)

OPLS-DA:

Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis

PCA:

Principal component analysis

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acid(s)

SFA:

Saturated fatty acid(s)

S/N:

Signal-to-noise

TIC:

Total ion chromatogram

VIP:

Variable important for the projection

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Research Committee of the University of Macau (MYRG123-ICMS12 and MYRG111-ICMS13 to JB Wan) and from the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund (010/2013/A1 to JB Wan).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Room 6034, Building N22, Taipa, Macao, People’s Republic of China

    Jian-Feng Qiu, Xiao-Jing Zhang, Yuan-Jia Hu, Peng Li & Jian-Bo Wan

  2. Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Ke-Lin Zhang & Chang-Zhen Shang

Authors
  1. Jian-Feng Qiu
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  2. Ke-Lin Zhang
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  5. Peng Li
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Correspondence to Jian-Bo Wan.

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Qiu, JF., Zhang, KL., Zhang, XJ. et al. Abnormalities in Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acid Profiles of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Lipids 50, 977–985 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-015-4060-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-015-4060-6

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