Abstract 1542P
Background
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal neoplasms, with disturbingly similar incidence and mortality rates and a 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. Complete surgical resection is the only curative treatment available for these patients. However, due to its aggressive nature and the lack of specific symptoms at early stages, less than 20% of patients are candidates for surgery at the time of its diagnosis. Current screening strategies to detect PDAC at an early stage are evidently inadequate. PDAC is known to develop in a microenvironment characterized by poor angiogenesis and a large amount of dense connective tissue. In order to survive in these hostile conditions and maintain a high proliferation rate, PDAC cells reprogram their metabolism. Hence, metabolomics may be a powerful tool to search for novel and robust biomarkers with clinical utility in this disease. The purpose of this study was to identify a differential metabolomic signature for PDAC patients.
Methods
Serum samples from 60 healthy controls and 59 patients with unresectable PDAC were studied by liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry in positive and negative electrospray ionization modes, in an untargeted metabolomic approach.
Results
Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed a separation between PDAC patients and healthy controls and allowed the identification of nine potential candidates with excellent diagnostic capacities. In addition, deep pathway analysis revealed four altered pathways in the PDAC patients.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrates the usefulness of the metabolomic approach as a diagnostic tool for PDAC. We propose novel biomarkers and altered pathways with excellent diagnostic potential for this malignancy.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Junta de Andalucía (grants number PC-0549-2017 and PC-0498-2017).
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.