title: A plasma metabolomic signature discloses human breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Metabolomics is the comprehensive global study of metabolites in biological samples. In this retrospective pilot study we explored whether serum metabolomic profile can discriminate the presence of human breast cancer irrespective of the cancer subtype.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma samples were analyzed from healthy women (n = 20) and patients with breast cancer after diagnosis (n = 91) using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry platform. Multivariate statistics and a Random Forest (RF) classifier were used to create a metabolomics panel for the diagnosis of human breast cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Metabolomics correctly distinguished between breast cancer patients and healthy control subjects. In the RF supervised class prediction analysis comparing breast cancer and healthy control groups, RF accurately classified 100% both samples of the breast cancer patients and healthy controls. So, the class error for both group in and the out-of-bag error were 0. We also found 1269 metabolites with different concentration in plasma from healthy controls and cancer patients; and basing on exact mass, retention time and isotopic distribution we identified 35 metabolites. These metabolites mostly support cell growth by providing energy and building stones for the synthesis of essential biomolecules, and function as signal transduction molecules. The collective results of RF, significance testing, and false discovery rate analysis identified several metabolites that were strongly associated with breast cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In breast cancer a metabolomics signature of cancer exists and can be detected in patient plasma irrespectively of the breast cancer type.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Lleida-Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida (UdL-IRBLleida), Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jové
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Medical Oncology Unit, Hospital San Pedro de Alcántara, Cáceres, Official Postgraduate Programme in Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Collado
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology "José Mataix", Biomedical Research Center, Department of Physiology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: José Luís
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Quiles
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology "José Mataix", Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Mari-Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Tortosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Lleida-Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida (UdL-IRBLleida), Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sol
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Sanjuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Capilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de la Torre Cabrera
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathological Anatomy, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.|GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (Pfizer / University of Granada / Andalusian Regional Government), PTS Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Tortosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Granados-Principal
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital of Jaén, Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Rovira
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Lleida-Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida (UdL-IRBLleida), Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Reinald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pamplona
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010949:Plasma / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: biomarker; breast cancer; mass spectrometry; metabolites; metabolomics