title: Serum Unsaturated Free Fatty Acids: A Potential Biomarker Panel for Early-Stage Detection of Colorectal Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To screen biomarkers to differentiate early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) from benign colorectal disease (BCD) and healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative and qualitative analysis of C16:1, C18:3, C18:2, C18:1, C20:4, and C22:6 in 185 healthy controls, 55 patients with BCD, and 139 patients with CRC was performed. Comparisons of their levels in between CRC patients, BCD patients, and healthy controls were performed using Mann-Whitney U test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum levels of C16:1, C18:3, C18:2, C18:1, C20:4, and C22:6 in CRC patients were significantly decreased compared with healthy controls and BCD patients. A combination of C16:1, C18:2, C20:4, and C22:6 has excellent diagnostic performance to differentiate early-stage CRC patients from healthy controls plus BCD patients, with an AUC of 0.926, a sensitivity of 84.6%, and a specificity of 89.8%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum levels of C16:1, C18:2, C20:4, and C22:6 could be diagnostic indicators of early-stage CRC patients.
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Biophysics and Structural Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China;
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 2. Clinical Lab Diagnosis, China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China;
authors.forename: Chengyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: 3. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China;
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: 4. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, China.
authors.forename: Yanmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 3. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China;
authors.forename: Xuzhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Biophysics and Structural Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China;
authors.forename: Yujie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Biophysics and Structural Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China;
authors.forename: Zhili
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: biomarker panel; colorectal cancer.; early detection; serum; unsaturated free fatty acids