SEARCH FOR METABOLOMIC PREDICTORS OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER: DATA FROM A PILOT STUDY

T Background. Lung cancer (LC) is still one of the leading problems of modern medicine. Currently, lung cancer diagnostic methods are mainly based on physical, biochemical and histopathologic examinations. Late diagnosis, high cost and unsuitability of traditional, though proven methods for screening in the population actualize the problem of developing a new method for early detection and improving the prognosis of lung cancer treatment. The results of our own study of metabolite content in the plasma of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in comparison with patients without NSCLC are analyzed. Purpose of the study. To conduct a pilot study to search for potential metabolomic predictors of non-small cell lung cancer. Characterization of patients and methods of the study. The prospective non-randomized parallel-group method study included 8 patients with NSCLC (mean age 63.142 years) and 8 patients with long cardiovascular history (mean age 64.156 years) in routine clinical practice setting. The study was approved by the local ethical committee of SCB No. 1. All patients underwent a full range of investigations according to the current clinical recommendations. Additionally, we performed mass spectrometric detection of metabolites in MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) mode in the form of positive and negative ions using API 6500 QTRAP mass spectrometer (AB SCIEX, USA) equipped with electrospray ionization source. Statistical analysis methods. Chromatograms were processed using the Skyline program (Skyline version v23.1, https://skyline.gs.washington.edu). Results and Conclusion. In this work, 31 metabolites were identified in which the studied groups differed significantly according to the Mann-Whitney U-criterion (p-value<0.05); they are associated with energy and lipid metabolism, inflammation, angiogenesis and regulation of cell growth, and play a key role in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. In the future, the mentioned metabolites may serve as important biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease.