Urinary nucleosides as biomarkers of breast, colon, lung, and gastric cancer in Taiwanese

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 19;8(12):e81701. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081701. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Urinary nucleosides are associated with many types of cancer. In this study, six targeted urinary nucleosides, namely adenosine, cytidine, 3-methylcytidine, 1-methyladenosine, inosine, and 2-deoxyguanosine, were chosen to evaluate their role as biomarkers of four different types of cancer: lung cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Urine samples were purified using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and then analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The Mann-Whitney U test and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to compare differences in urinary nucleosides between patients with one of four types of cancer and healthy controls. The diagnostic sensitivity of single nucleosides for different types of cancer ranged from 14% to 69%. In contrast, the diagnostic sensitivity of a set of six nucleosides ranged from 37% to 69%. The false-positive identification rate associated with the set of six nucleosides in urine was less than 2% compared with that of less than 5% for a single nucleoside. Furthermore, combining the set of six urinary nucleosides with carcinoembryonic antigen improved the diagnostic sensitivity for colon cancer. In summary, the study show that a set of six targeted nucleosides is a good diagnostic marker for breast and colon cancers but not for lung and gastric cancers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / urine*
  • Breast Neoplasms / urine*
  • Colonic Neoplasms / urine*
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / urine*
  • Nucleosides / urine*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / urine*
  • Taiwan

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Nucleosides

Grants and funding

The study was funded by a grant from China Medical University and the National Science Council of the Republic of China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.