Metabolomics; i.e., metabonomics, is the quantitative measurement of the metabolic response to pathophysiological stimuli. Dr Haleem Issaqh and a team from the Laboratory of Proteomics and Analytical Technologies at SAIC Frederick in Maryland, USA, evaluated high performance liquid chromatography coupled online with a mass spectrometer metabolomic approach to differentiate urine samples from healthy individuals and patients with bladder cancer.
“This analysis provides a metabolite pattern that can be characteristic of various benign and malignant conditions. The results of this proof of concept study, in a relatively small number of subjects, indicate that metabolomics using high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry has the potential to become a non-invasive early detection test for bladder cancer,” said Dr Issaqh. The study was documented in a paper in the Journal of Urology [179(6) 2422-2426 (2008)].
“The chances of survival are better when cancer is detected at an early stage. The search for cancer biomarkers is a must. The objective of our research is to find a biomarker that has a high sensitivity and specificity. We found that the profile of urine obtained by HPLC/MS can differentiate between urine from healthy and bladder cancer patients,” Issaqh added.
 He believes the findings indicate that it is possible, using metabolomics, to differentiate between two sets of urine and the results can potentially be a bladder cancer marker. His research in this area in continuing.

For more information contact issaqh@mail.nih.gov