Metabolomic Pattern of Childhood Neuroblastoma Obtained by H-1-High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HRMAS) NMR Spectroscopy

Background The aim of this preliminary study is to characterize by H-1 high resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy (HRMAS) the metabolic content of intact biopsy samples obtained from 12 patients suffering from neuroblastoma (NB) Procedure The biochemical NB profile was first compared to normal adrenal medulla In a second step, the relationship between the tumor metabolic profile and the patients' clinical data was investigated Results A higher level of creatine glutamine/glutamate acetate and glycine characterized NB biopsies while healthy adrenal medulla tissue contained adrenaline and a larger amount of ascorbic acid Adrenaline, which was undetectable in NB spectra represented the metabolic signature of normal adrenal medulla NB from patients younger than 12 months contained a higher level of acetate and lysine Conversely, higher amounts of glutathione glutamate myoinositol, glycine serine and ascorbic acid were detected in NB samples belonging to younger children Glutamine/glutamate aspartate, creatine glycine were characteristic of stage I-II NB Acetate and creatine were characteristic of stage IV NB Finally, a relatively higher amount of aspartate succinate, and glutathione was detected in patients alive without active disease after a mean follow up of 7 years whereas a higher concentration of acetate and taurine was characteristic of patients with worse prognosis Conclusions Our preliminary results suggest the existence of a complex metabolic reality in NB, probably representative of tumor behavior However the real impact of these promising results should be assessed by long term prospective studies on a larger cohort of patients Pediatr Blood Cancer 2011 56 24-34 (C) 2010 Wiley Liss Inc