title: Identification of possible biomarkers for breast cancer from free fatty acid profiles determined by GC-MS and multivariate statistical analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to investigate the free fatty acid (FFA) metabolic profiles and to identify biomarkers that can be used to distinguish patients with breast cancer (BC) from benign (BE) patients or healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 114 subjects were divided into the following three groups: BC patients, BE patients and controls. The FFA profiles in three groups were studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with multivariate statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three saturated fatty acids (C14:0, C16:0 and C18:0) and three unsaturated fatty acids (C18:2, C18:3 and C20:5) in BC were significantly different than controls. Palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid and total FFA were identified as potential biomarkers distinguished BC from the other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The alterations of FFA could reflect underlying metabolic changes in BC patients, and this study has demonstrated that FFA biomarkers might be helpful for prevention and characterization of BC patients.
authors: Harbin University of Commence, Harbin, 150028, PR China. lvwuwen2010@163.com
authors: Wuwen
authors: W
authors: Lv
authors: Tongshu
authors: T
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002138:Calibration; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000378:metabolism*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015999:Multivariate Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated