title: S-adenosylmethionine as a biomarker for the early detection of lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  S-Adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) is a major methyl donor for transmethylation reactions and propylamine donor for the biosynthesis of polyamines in biological systems, and therefore may play a role in lung cancer development. We hypothesized that AdoMet levels were elevated in patients with lung cancer and may prove useful as a biomarker for early lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  High-performance liquid chromatography was used to analyze plasma AdoMet levels in triplicate samples from 68 patients. This included 13 patients with lung cancer, 33 smokers with benign lung disease, and 22 healthy nonsmokers. The three groups of subjects were compared with respect to the distribution of demographic and disease characteristics and AdoMet levels. Distributions were examined using summary statistics and box plots, and nonparametric analysis of variance procedures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum AdoMet levels were elevated in patients with lung cancer as compared to smokers with benign lung disorders and healthy nonsmokers. There were no significant correlations between AdoMet levels and tumor cell types, nodule size, or other demographic variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that plasma levels of AdoMet are significantly elevated in patients with lung cancer. Plasma AdoMet levels may prove to be a useful tool for the diagnosis of early lung cancer, in combination with chest CT. Registered at: clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00301119).
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Alissa K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Binaya
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rimal
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Felner
authors.forename: Subooha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zafar
authors.forename: Jerry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eylers
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Phalan
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Judith D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: William N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Rom
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Naidich
authors.forename: Salim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merali
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D019175:DNA Methylation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine / Q000097:blood*; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine