Int J Med Sci 2017; 14(1):1-12. doi:10.7150/ijms.15783 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 6 Grunwaldzka Street, 60-780 Poznań, Poland.
2. Ward of Urology, The Holy Family Hospital, 18 Jarochowskiego Street, 60-235 Poznań, Poland.
3. Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Medical University of Bialystok, 2d Mickiewicza Street, 15-222 Białystok, Poland.
There is a great interest in searching for diagnostic biomarkers in prostate cancer patients. The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate free amino acid profiles in their serum and urine. The presented paper shows the first comprehensive analysis of a wide panel of amino acids in two different physiological fluids obtained from the same groups of prostate cancer patients (n = 49) and healthy men (n = 40). The potential of free amino acids, both proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic, as prostate cancer biomarkers and their utility in classification of study participants have been assessed. Several metabolites, which deserve special attention in the further metabolomic investigations on searching for prostate cancer markers, were indicated. Moreover, free amino acid profiles enabled to classify samples to one of the studied groups with high sensitivity and specificity. The presented research provides a strong evidence that ethanolamine, arginine and branched-chain amino acids metabolic pathways can be a valuable source of markers for prostate cancer. The altered concentrations of the above-mentioned metabolites suggest their role in pathogenesis of prostate cancer and they should be further evaluated as clinically useful markers of prostate cancer.
Keywords: prostate cancer, amino acids, metabolomics, serum, urine.