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The free amino acid profiles and metabolic biomarkers of predicting the chemotherapeutic response in advanced sarcoma patients

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Abstract

Purpose

Metabolomics is an emerging field in cancer research. Plasma free amino acid profiles (PFAAs) have shown different features in various cancers, but the characteristic in advanced sarcoma remains unclear. We aimed to uncover the specific PFAAs in advanced sarcoma and to find the relationship between the altering of PFAAs and response to chemotherapy.

Patients and methods

We analyzed the differences in PFAAs between 23 sarcoma patients and 30 healthy subjects basing on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Then, we compared the dynamics of PFAAs after chemotherapy between improvement group and deterioration group.

Results

We identified seven biological differential amino acids and four pathways which were perturbed in the sarcoma patients compared with healthy subjects. After one cycle chemotherapy, the levels of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and carnosine (Car) decreased significantly in the improvement group but not in deterioration group. The levels of α-aminobutyric acid (Abu) increased significantly in the deterioration group but not in the improvement group.

Conclusion

Our study suggests the potential specific PFAAs in sarcoma patients. The unusual amino acids and metabolic pathways may provide ideas for clinical drugs targeting therapy. Three amino acids including Car, GABA and Abu may be metabolic biomarkers playing a role in dynamic monitoring of the therapeutic effect.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81872264).

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Author notes

  1. B. Jia and W. Wang are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No.1 East Jianshe Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    B. Jia, W. Wang, S. Lin, L. Shi, Y. Li & Y. Qin

  2. Durbrain Medical Laboratory, Hangzhou, 310000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Y. Gu & F. Gao

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  1. B. Jia
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Contributions

YQ was responsible for conception and supervision. BJ and WW prepared the manuscript. WW, SL, YL and LS interpreted and analyzed data. BJ revised the important intellectual content. YG and FG provided technical support for plasma testing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Qin.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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The content and processes of the study have been reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhengzhou University which is guided by international and national ethical requirements. In compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki, patient data were maintained with strict confidentiality.

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Patients were informed in advance before taking blood samples, and all patients were informed of the treatment process and signed informed consent documents.

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Jia, B., Wang, W., Lin, S. et al. The free amino acid profiles and metabolic biomarkers of predicting the chemotherapeutic response in advanced sarcoma patients. Clin Transl Oncol 22, 2213–2221 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-020-02494-5

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