Scientists belonging to two research groups of the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA), led by Dr. Encarnación González Flores (researcher of the A-13 Personalized Oncology group of ibs.GRANADA), Dr. Jose Carlos Prados Salazar and Dr. Consolación Melguizo Alonso (researchers responsible for group A-01, Technology Applied to Oncology and Gene Therapy) in collaboration with the Research Group for Advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods and Metal-Based Catalysts at the University of Almería, have demonstrated that certain metabolites present in the peripheral blood can be used as markers of the existence of metastases in patients with colon cancer.
This multidisciplinary team from ibs.GRANADA, belonging to the Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology of the University of Granada, the Medical Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves in Granada and the Department of Chemistry and Physics of the University of Almería, have managed to detect these metabolites in the blood through the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) through the study of the molecules that are produced in the metabolism in combination with statistical analysis techniques, a highly sensitive technology that would allow obtaining rapid results in the colon cancer screening.
Colon cancer must be considered as a real public health problem. In Spain, if we consider both sexes, it is the most common cancer, surpassing breast and lung cancer. In addition, its incidence has suffered a clear increase in recent years, and all indicators point to this increase continuing in the next decade. Despite the fact that population screening programs are increasing their early detection, a high number of patients have metastasis at the time of diagnosis or develop it throughout the course of the disease. The study reveals a great difference between the metabolic profile of healthy people and patients with colon cancer, producing a significant increase in the concentrations of pyruvate and glutamate, among other compounds, while the levels of 3-hydroxybutyrate, choline, glycylphosphocholine and certain amino acids and fatty acids were decreased in colon cancer patients.
On the other hand, it has been discovered that the relationship between glutamate and glutamine, as well as between pyruvate and alanine also behave as indicators of metastatic disease. Therefore, the results confirm the idea that the changes caused by the presence of a metastatic process in the patient translate into specific metabolic changes that can be detected and used as biomarkers of the disease.
The results obtained, which provide relevant knowledge about possible markers with application in the detection and prognosis of metastatic colon cancer, have been published in the prestigious journal 'NMR in Biomedicine'.
About the research groups:
The Personalized Oncology Research group of the ibs.GRANADA Cancer Area, led by Joaquina Martínez Galán, is made up of medical oncologists, biologists, a pharmacist and a psycho-oncologist, whose main objective is to study resistance mechanisms and identify prognostic and predictive factors for response to the oncological treatments applied that can help to establish personalized treatments minimizing the secondary toxicity that derives from them.
More information about the group at https://www.ibsgranada.es/grupos-de-investigacion/a13-oncologia-personalizada/
The ibs.GRANADA Technology Applied to Oncology and Gene Therapy research group, led by Jose Carlos Prados, has consolidated over the last few years thanks to the continuous expansion of its research staff and personnel in training. Its objective in recent years has focused on the development of new strategies for the treatment of cancer at an experimental level but with a purpose of clinical application including the application of nanotechnological systems, the study of cancer stem cells, their resistance mechanisms and its relevance as a target for new therapies, the determination of new molecules/extracts of plant origin with therapeutic or preventive capacity against cancer and the development of antitumor gene therapy systems. In addition, this group develops cancer diagnostic systems based on new technologies, including the determination of gene, protein and metabolomics-based markers, and works on aspects related to regenerative biomedicine, especially in the nervous and musculoskeletal systems.
More information about the group at https://www.ibsgranada.es/grupos-de-investigacion/a01-tecnologia-aplicada-a-oncologia-y-terapia-genica/
Bibliographic reference
Ana Isabel Tristán, Encarnación González-Flores, Ana Del Mar Salmerón, Ana Cristina Abreu, Octavio Caba, Cristina Jiménez-Luna, Consolación Melguizo, José Prados, Ignacio Fernández. Serum nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics analysis of human metastatic colorectal cancer: Biomarkers and pathway analysis. NMR Biomed. 2023, 22;e4935. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4935.
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