MR spectroscopy in breast cancer metabolomics

Abstract

Breast cancer poses a significant health care challenge worldwide requiring early detection and effective treatment strategies for better patient outcome. A deeper understanding of the breast cancer biology and metabolism may help developing better diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Metabolomic studies give a comprehensive analysis of small molecule metabolites present in human tissues in vivo. The changes in the level of these metabolites provide information on the complex mechanism of the development of the disease and its progression. Metabolomic approach using analytical techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has evolved as an important tool for identifying clinically relevant metabolic biomarkers. The metabolic characterization of breast lesions using in-vivo MRS has shown that malignant breast tissues contain elevated levels of choline containing compounds (tCho), suggesting rapid proliferation of cancer cells and alterations in membrane metabolism. Also, tCho has been identified as one of the important biomarkers that help to enhance the diagnostic accuracy of dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and also for monitoring treatment response. Further, metabolome of malignant tissues can be studied using ex vivo and in vitro MRS at high magnetic fields. This provided the advantage of detection of a large number of compounds that facilitated more comprehensive insight into the altered metabolic pathways associated with the cancer development and progression and also in identification of several metabolites as potential biomarkers. This article briefly reviews the role of MRS based metabolic profiling in the discovery of biomarkers and understanding of the altered metabolism in breast cancer. K E Y W O R D Sbiomarker, breast cancer, ex vivo, in vitro, in vivo, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), metabolomics, therapeutic response INTRODUCTIONBreast cancer is a major healthcare concern for women globally. 1 Early diagnosis of breast cancer plays an important role in effective therapeutic management and in improving survival and quality-of-life. The radiological imaging techniques such as mammography and ultrasoundThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Association of serum metabolome profile with the risk of breast cancer in participants of the HUNT2 study

“…Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) are the two analytical techniques most often used in metabolomics. The analysis of metabolites in blood and other biological samples allows the detection of even subtle changes related to the development of a disease, including BC (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Several studies reported that serum/plasma metabolome profiling could be used to provide signatures associated with a risk of BC.…”

Editorial for special issue: Metabolomics in India

“…In another review on the application of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in breast cancer, Sharma and Jagannathan 9 compare the technology with mass spectrometry and demonstrate a handful of applications in biomedical research, which goes on to show its enormous potential in capturing the underlying metabolic reprogramming in breast cancer cells, in unravelling molecular biomarkers, and applications in in vitro and ex vivo studies.…”