The role of metabolomics in hepatocellular carcinomas

Egyptian Liver Journal

Marwa Helal¹  Hala El-Said¹  Samar Ghanem¹  Manar Obada¹  Ashraf Khalil¹  Gamalate Elgedawy¹  Ashraf Elfert¹  Shymaa Abdelsattar¹  Mohammed Abdel Abdel-Samiee² 

[1]Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University

[2]Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University

关键词: Cirrhosis;    HCC;    Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry;    Metabolic profiling;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s43066-021-00085-9

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver malignancy, with the highest incidence in the developing world, including Egypt. Hepatocellular carcinoma is usually diagnosed in the terminal stage of the disease because of the low sensitivity of the available screening tests. During the process of carcinogenesis, the cellular metabolism is altered to allow cancer cells to adapt to the hypoxic environment and therefore increase anabolic synthesis and survival and avoid the apoptotic death signals. These changes in metabolic status can be tracked by metabolomics analysis. Main body Metabolomics is a comprehensive approach for identifying metabolic signatures towards the screening, prediction, and earlier diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with greater efficiency than the conventional diagnostic biomarker. The identification of metabolic changes associated with hepatocellular carcinoma is essential to the understanding of disease pathophysiology and enables better monitoring of high-risk individuals. However, due to the complexity of the metabolic pathways associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, the details of these perturbations are still not adequately characterized. The current status of biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma and their insufficiencies and metabolic pathways linked to hepatocellular carcinogenesis are briefly addressed in this mini-review. The review focused on the significantly changed metabolites and pathways associated with hepatocellular carcinoma such as phospholipids, bile acids, amino acids, reactive oxygen species metabolism, and the metabolic changes related to energy production in a cancer cell. The review briefly discusses the sensitivity of metabolomics in the prediction and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and the effect of coexisting multiple etiologies of the disease. Conclusions Metabolomics profiling is a potentially promising tool for better predicting, diagnosis, and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

【 授权许可】

Unknown