title: Metabolomics of the tumor microenvironment in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: The tumor microenvironment is emerging as an important therapeutic target. Most studies, however, are focused on the protein components, and relatively little is known of how the microenvironmental metabolome might influence tumor survival. In this study, we examined the metabolic profiles of paired bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from 10 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). BM and PB samples from the same patient were collected at the time of diagnosis and after 29 days of induction therapy, at which point all patients were in remission. We employed two analytical platforms, high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, to identify and quantify 102 metabolites in the BM and PB. Standard ALL therapy, which includes l-asparaginase, completely removed circulating asparagine, but not glutamine. Statistical analyses of metabolite correlations and network reconstructions showed that the untreated BM microenvironment was characterized by a significant network-level signature: a cluster of highly correlated lipids and metabolites involved in lipid metabolism (p<0.006). In contrast, the strongest correlations in the BM upon remission were observed among amino acid metabolites and derivatives (p<9.2 × 10(-10)). This study provides evidence that metabolic characterization of the cancer niche could generate new hypotheses for the development of cancer therapies.
authors.affiliation: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America ; Department of Nutritional Sciences, Dell Pediatric Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tiziani
authors.affiliation: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yunyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ricky
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harjanto
authors.affiliation: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Axelrod
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Piermarocchi
authors.affiliation: Rady Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paternostro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D060828:Induction Chemotherapy; D007223:Infant; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000187:drug effects; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment