title: Recent advances in metabolomics in oncology.
abstract: The burden of cancer is growing worldwide and with it a more desperate need for better tools to detect, diagnose and monitor the disease is required. It is well recognized that cancer cells are characterized by distinct metabolic perturbations. The metabolomics approach involves the comprehensive profiling of the full complement of low MW compounds in a biological system. By applying advanced analytical and statistical tools, the 'metabolome' is mined for biomarkers that are associated with the state of cancer. This review presents an introduction to the main analytical platforms used in metabolomics analyses, such as NMR spectroscopy and MS, as well as the statistical tools used to mine these datasets. The discussion focuses on 'state-of-the-art' investigations on the four cancer types that have received the most study by metabolomics, namely breast, prostate, colorectal and liver cancer.
authors.affiliation: LipoScience, Division of Basic Research, Raleigh, NC 27616, USA. toconnell@liposcience.com
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: O'Connell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D057225:Data Mining; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D012372:ROC Curve; D060388:Support Vector Machine
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor