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A pilot investigation of a urinary metabolic biomarker discovery in renal cell carcinoma

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Background

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common and lethal malignancy of the kidney. Distinguishing RCC from benign renal tumors and healthy controls is still a clinical challenge. Urine metabolomics has been used to identify biomarkers of clinical diseases.

Methods

In the present study, we explored the urine metabolomes of a cohort of 61 patients with renal tumors (39 RCC and 22 benign renal tumors) and 68 healthy controls using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC–MS).

Results

Metabolic profiling of urine could significantly differentiate RCC from healthy controls and benign renal tumors. Metabolic pathways, including lysine metabolism and phenylalanine metabolism, were found to be disturbed in the RCC group. Steroid hormone biosynthesis was significantly different between the benign tumor group and the RCC group. RCC biomarkers were further explored. A metabolite panel consisting of cortolone, testosterone and L-2-aminoadipate adenylate was discovered to have good ability of distinguishing RCC from benign tumors, with an AUC of 0.868 for tenfold cross-validation and 0.873 for the validation group. In addition, the panel of aminoadipic acid, 2-(formamido)-N1-(5-phospho-d-ribosyl) acetamidine and alpha-N-phenylacetyl-l-glutamine could distinguish the RCC group from the healthy control group, with an AUC of 0.841 for tenfold cross-validation and 0.894 for the validation group.

Conclusions

This pilot study suggests that urine metabolomics may be useful in differentiating RCC from healthy controls and benign renal tumors.

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Funding

This work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (nos. 2013CB530805 and 2014CBA02005), the Key Basic Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (no. 2013FY114100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 30970650, 31200614, 31400669, and 81371515), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (no. 5132028), CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Science (2017-I2M-1-009) and Biologic Medicine Information Center, National Scientific Data Sharing Platform for Population and Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Mingxin Zhang, Hanzhong Li & Yushi Zhang

  2. Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Xiaoyan Liu, Xiang Liu & Wei Sun

  3. Department of Urology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

    Mingxin Zhang

Authors
  1. Mingxin Zhang
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  2. Xiaoyan Liu
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  3. Xiang Liu
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  4. Hanzhong Li
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  5. Wei Sun
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  6. Yushi Zhang
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Correspondence to Wei Sun or Yushi Zhang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zhang, M., Liu, X., Liu, X. et al. A pilot investigation of a urinary metabolic biomarker discovery in renal cell carcinoma. Int Urol Nephrol 52, 437–446 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-019-02332-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-019-02332-w

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