Essential Amino Acids as Diagnostic Biomarkers of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

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Oncotarget

Oncotarget published this research paper in Volume 13, entitled, “Essential amino acids as diagnostic biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma based on metabolic analysis" by researchers from Department of Surgery, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan; Department of Clinical Nutrition and Food Management, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan; Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-0052, Japan; Systems Biology Program, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0882, Japan; Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan. DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28306 Correspondence to - Yuji Morine - ymorine@tokushima-u.ac.jp Abstract Metabolomics, defined as the comprehensive identification of all small metabolites in a biological sample, has the power to shed light on phenotypic changes associated with various diseases, including cancer. To discover potential metabolomic biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we investigated the metabolomes of tumor and non-tumor tissue in 20 patients with primary HCC using capillary electrophoresis–time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We also analyzed blood samples taken immediately before and 14 days after hepatectomy to identify associated changes in the serum metabolome. Marked changes were detected in the different quantity of 61 metabolites that could discriminate between HCC tumor and paired non-tumor tissue and additionally between HCC primary tumors and colorectal liver metastases. Among the 30 metabolites significantly upregulated in HCC tumors compared with non-tumor tissues, 10 were amino acids, and 7 were essential amino acids (leucine, valine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, lysine, and phenylalanine). Similarly, the serum metabolomes of HCC patients before hepatectomy revealed a significant increase in 16 metabolites, including leucine, valine, and tryptophan. Our results reveal striking differences in the metabolomes of HCC tumor tissue compared with non-tumor tissue, and identify the essential amino acids leucine, valine, and tryptophan as potential metabolic biomarkers for HCC. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28306 Keywords - metabolomics, essential amino acid, hepatocellular carcinoma, diagnostic biomarker About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a primarily oncology-focused, peer-reviewed, open access journal. Papers are published continuously within yearly volumes in their final and complete form, and then quickly released to Pubmed. On September 15, 2022, Oncotarget was accepted again for indexing by MEDLINE. Oncotarget is now indexed by Medline/PubMed and PMC/PubMed. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957