Cancer and Metabolism

Although the progress in cancer care is advancing at an unprecedented pace, many cancer types remain deadly. Precision oncology is part of precision medicine dedicated to the task of preventing cancer and delivering the most appropriate therapy to the right patients at the correct time. The identification of actionable targets is paramount, but insufficient. Indeed, drug discovery in oncology is often hindered by the lack of linkage data for new genetic variants, animal models, and understanding of molecular mechanisms. Biomarkers are needed to establish the diagnosis, prognosis, drug response, safety, interactions, patient stratification, and disease classification. Global metabolomics can help with the discovery of all ingredients for successful tailored therapy in cancer.

Metabolon has vast expertise in metabolomics and a library of over 5,400 metabolites to enable broad coverage of small molecules of a wide range of biochemical classes that play important roles in the human body. The application of metabolomics in oncology research and the clinic via global metabolomics may help unravel cancer risk factors, identify biomarkers for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring, and also provide insights into the biology and therefore into therapeutic targets. Metabolomics can be combined with other omics sciences to obtain additional insights into phenomena like drug resistance.

Impaired Glucose Tolerance can be assessed with a single fasted blood draw by measuring a panel of selected metabolites comprised of two small organic acids (α-hydroxybutyric acid (AHB) and 4-methyl-2-oxopentanoic acid (4MOP)), 2 lipids (oleic acid and linoleoyl glycerophosphocholine (LGPC)), a ketone body (β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA)), an amino acid (serine), a vitamin (pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)), and glucose.