Researchers from the Medical University of Bialystok (Joanna Godzien, Julia Sieminska, Kacper Jablonowski, Karolina Pietrowska, Joanna Kisluk, Malgorzata Mojsak, Zofia Dzieciol-Anikiej, Joanna Reszec, Miroslaw Kozlowski, Marcin Moniuszko, Adam Kretowski, Jacek Niklinski, Michal Ciborowski) together with partners from CEMBIO at San Pablo CEU University in Madrid published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences the article "Exploration of oxidized phosphocholine profile in non-small-cell lung cancer".
The redox balance, crucial for cell health, can be disrupted, leading to oxidative stress. Among the various oxidation products, lipids play an important role, especially oxidized phosphatidylcholines (oxPCs), which, once considered harmful, are now recognized as essential signaling molecules. Inflammation and oxidative stress are closely associated with lung cancer, particularly the most common type, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), highlighting the importance of early diagnosis, staging and subtyping for effective treatment and improved quality of life for patients.
This metabolomic study aimed to determine the levels of oxPC in patients with NSCLC and investigate their potential role in the development of lung cancer. To accomplish this, we performed in-depth, multi-level metabolomic analyses of nearly 350 plasma and lung tissue samples from 200 patients with NSCLC, including adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), the two most prevalent NSCLC subtypes. The study revealed that in plasma samples, the dominant were long-chain oxPCs, while in tissue samples from patients with NSCLC, the dominant forms were short-chain oxPCs. Concentrations of oxPC were significantly elevated in plasma and tumor tissue compared to the control group. The highest levels of oxPC were observed in the central region of the tumor. In addition, oxPC levels were found to be higher in ADC patients than in SCC patients.
In conclusion, considering that the deleterious effects associated with the accumulation of short-chain oxPC and that elevated levels of these epi-lipids are a hallmark of many types of cancer suggest that these molecules may have more therapeutic utility than diagnostic value.
The research was supported by National Science Centre in Poland (2014/13/B/NZ5/01256), the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland: “Prevention practices and treatment of civilization diseases’ program, STRATEGMED” (contract no. STRATEGMED2/266484/2/NCBR/2015), the Medical University of Bialystok, the National Research Centre in Poland (61/KNOW-16 and 66/KNOW/16), the statutory funds of the Medical University of Bialystok (SUB/1/DN/21/005/4406), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation PID 2021-122490NB-I00, and the Polish Ministry of Education and Science within the project “Excellence Initiative–Research University”
Link to the article: Exploration of oxidized phosphocholine profile in non-small-cell lung cancer