Metabolomics in Cancer Biomarker Research

• Published in: Current pharmacology reports Vol. 2; no. 6; pp. 293 - 298
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaoyan, Chen, Shaoqiu, Jia, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-12-2016
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Molecular Medicine; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Pharmacometabolomics and Toxicometabolomics (C Chen; Section Editor; Topical Collection on Pharmacometabolomics and Toxicometabolomics; Biomarkers; Metabolomics; Metabolite markers; Prognosis; Diagnosis
• ISSN: 2198-641X; 2198-641X
• DOI: 10.1007/s40495-016-0074-x

Purpose of Review
As a research tool for quantitative measurement of small molecule metabolites, metabolomics has been devoted to search for biomarkers that can be used for diagnosis and prognosis of malignant tumors. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent literatures on metabolomic-based cancer biomarker research and to discuss the current issues and challenges in the clinical applications of metabolomics technologies.
Recent Findings
This article reviews metabolomics-based cancer biomarker studies reported in the past 3–5 years, summarizes the classes of potential metabolite markers, and discusses the current problems in study designs as well as analytical platforms and methodologies.
Summary
The application of metabolomics showed great potential in disease diagnosis, prognosis, and patient stratifications in most types of tumors. In the future, with improvement and standardization of the study designs and analytical protocols, metabolomics can serve as an effective tool for cancer translational research.