title: The therapy of gefitinib towards breast cancer partially through reversing breast cancer biomarker arginine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer remains the leading reason of cancer death among women worldwide, and gefitinib is the efficient drug for breast cancer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To use targeted metabolomics method to elucidate the therapeutic mechanism of gefitinib through profiling the amino acids.
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthy women (n=56) and women with breast cancer (n=60) were enrolled in Affiliated Yuhuangding hospital, medical college of Qingdao University from 2012-2014. API 3200 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was used to analyze the serum samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The concentration of amino acids was compared between healthy women and women with breast cancers. Compared with the healthy women, the concentration of arginine in breast cancer women significantly decreased (p<0.0001). To show the representative capability of arginine towards the pathogenesis of breast cancers, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to be 0.96 ± 0.02, indicating the high predictive capability of arginine for breast cancer . The reversing ability of gefitinib towards the level of arginine was further determined, and 1 month treatment of gefitinib (500 mg/day) significantly reversed the arginine level of breast cancer patients (p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The therapy of gefitinib towards breast cancer through reversing breast cancer biomarker arginine was demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Yuhuangding Hospital, Medical College of Qingdao University, 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, Shandong 264000, China.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Yuhuangding Hospital, Medical College of Qingdao University, 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, Shandong 264000, China.
authors.forename: Dengjun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Yuhuangding Hospital, Medical College of Qingdao University, 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, Shandong 264000, China.
authors.forename: Liangming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Yuhuangding Hospital, Medical College of Qingdao University, 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, Shandong 264000, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001120:Arginine / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D000077156:Gefitinib; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D055432:Metabolomics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011799:Quinazolines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011799:Quinazolines; D001120:Arginine; D000077156:Gefitinib
keywords: Breast cancer; arginine; gefitinib; metabolomics