Metabolomics Provides a New Approach to Kidney Cancer Diagnosis

Metabolomics techniques identified metabolites in the urine of patients with kidney cancer.

Often diagnosed at late stages, treatment options for kidney cancer become severely limited: greater understanding of tumor metabolism leading ultimately to novel approaches to early diagnosis is needed.

Two studies support the use of metabolomics in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney cancer. In the first study, scientists identified metabolites in the urine of patients with kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma, RCC) that appear at different levels compared with patients without kidney cancer. The levels of quinolinate, 4-hydroxybenzoate, and gentisate, metabolites involved in common biochemical pathways of specific amino acid and energy metabolism, were significantly different in urine from RCC patients.

This result is consistent with protein breakdown and utilization as well as the Warburg effect in kidney cancer tumors. The investigators also showed that addition of quinolinate, or α-ketoglutarate, which increased significantly in kidney cancer, stimulated growth in RCC cell lines more than addition of gentisate. This study was published in the May 10, 2011 edition of OMICS, A Journal of Integrative Biology.

The second study compared urine samples from patients with and without kidney cancer, using metabolomics. The study found increases in urinary acyl-carnitines in patients with kidney cancer, with the highest levels associated with high cancer grades. The study was published online in July 2011 the International Journal of Cancer.

The studies were conducted by Robert Weiss, MD of the Cancer Center at the University of California Davis (Sacramento, CA, USA) and colleagues at the University’s Departments of Public Health Sciences and Internal Medicine in collaboration with Metabolon (Durham, NC, USA) scientists.

According to Dr. Weiss, "Currently there are no useful biofluid markers for this disease, so diagnosis is dependent on imaging techniques that are not generally used for screening. Further evaluation of metabolomics analysis, as well as confirmation of the specific potential biomarkers using a larger cohort will lead to new avenues of kidney cancer diagnosis and therapy."

Related Links:
Cancer Center at the University of California Davis
Metabolon