Metabolite profiling of blood plasma of patients with prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. It is though extremely important to search for specific markers including metabolites, which concentration in blood could be a diagnostic measure. In this regard, the metabolite profiling of blood plasma was performed with two groups of people: healthy volunteers (n = 30) and patients with prostate cancer, second stage (n = 40). The profiling protocol included proteins removal from blood plasma with methanol and direct analysis of metabolite fractions by mass spectrometry. Identification of the most abundant metabolites in samples was performed using an accurate mass tag and an isotope pattern methods. Cancer-specific metabolites were revealed by statistical analysis of metabolite intensities in the mass spectra. Six different metabolites were found to be cancer-specific. Two metabolites, acylcarnitine and arachidonoyl amine, have the AUC 0.97 and 0.86, respectively, which are higher than those from PSA test, 0.59.