A metabolic profile of routine needle biopsies identified tumor type specific metabolic signatures for breast cancer stratification: a pilot study

Introduction: Metabolomics has recently emerged as a tool for understanding comprehensive tumor-associated metabolic dysregulation. However, only limited application of this technology has been introduced into the clinical setting of breast cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of metabolome analysis using routine CNB/VAB samples from breast cancer patients and to elucidate metabolic signatures using metabolic profiling. Methods: After breast cancer screenings, 20 consecutive patients underwent CNB/VAB, and diagnosed with benign, DCIS and IDC by histology. Metabolome analysis was performed using CE–MS. Differential metabolites were then analyzed and evaluated with MetaboAnalyst 4.0. Results: We measured 116-targeted metabolites involved in energy metabolism. Principal component analysis and unsupervised hierarchical analysis revealed a distinct metabolic signature unique to namely “pure” IDC samples, whereas that of DCIS was similar to benign samples. Pathway analysis unveiled the most affected pathways of the “pure” IDC metabotype, including “pyrimidine,” “alanine, aspartate, and glutamate” and “arginine and proline” pathways. Conclusions: Our proof-of-concept study demonstrated that CE–MS-based CNB/VAB metabolome analysis is feasible for implementation in routine clinical settings. The most affected pathways in this study may contribute to improved breast cancer stratification and precision medicine.