Untargeted Metabolomic Study of Lung Cancer Patients after Surgery with Curative Intent.

Lung cancer (LC) is a leading cause of mortality, claiming more than 1.8 million deaths per year worldwide. Surgery is one of the most effective treatments when the disease is in its early stages. The study of metabolic alterations after surgical intervention with curative intent could be used to assess the response to treatment or the detection of cancer recurrence. In this study, we have evaluated the metabolomic profile of serum samples (n = 110) from preoperative (PRE) and postoperative (POST) LC patients collected at two different time points (1 month, A; 3-6 months, B) with respect to healthy people. An untargeted metabolomic platform based on reversed phase (RP) and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC), using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS), was applied (MassIVE ID MSV000092213). Twenty-two altered metabolites were annotated by comparing all the different studied groups. DG(14,0/22:1), stearamide, proline, and E,e-carotene-3,3'-dione were found altered in PRE, and their levels returned to those of a baseline control group 3-6 months after surgery. Furthermore, 3-galactosyllactose levels remained altered after intervention in some patients. This study provides unique insights into the metabolic profiles of LC patients after surgery at two different time points by combining complementary analytical methods.

Omic methodologies for assessing metal(-loid)s-host-microbiota interplay: A review.

Omic methodologies have become key analytical tools in a wide number of research topics such as systems biology, environmental analysis, biomedicine or food analysis. They are especially useful when they are combined providing a new perspective and a holistic view of the analytical problem. Methodologies for microbiota analysis have been mostly focused on genome sequencing. However, information provided by these metagenomic studies is limited to the identification of the presence of genes, taxa and their inferred functionality. To achieve a deeper knowledge of microbial functionality in health and disease, especially in dysbiosis conditions related to metal and metalloid exposure, the introduction of additional meta-omic approaches including metabolomics, metallomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics results essential. The possible impact of metals and metalloids on the gut microbiota and their effects on gut-brain axis (GBA) only begin to be figured out. To this end new analytical workflows combining powerful tools are claimed such as high resolution mass spectrometry and heteroatom-tagged proteomics for the absolute quantification of metal-containing biomolecules using the metal as a "tag" in a sensitive and selective detector (e.g. ICP-MS). This review focus on current analytical methodologies related with the analytical techniques and procedures available for metallomics and microbiota analysis with a special attention on their advantages and drawbacks.

Study of the effect of sample preparation and cooking on the selenium speciation of selenized potatoes by HPLC with ICP-MS and electrospray ionization MS/MS.

The efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis and leaching with water using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) or boiling was investigated for quantitative Se speciation in selenized potatoes using reversed phase HPLC coupled to ICP-MS. Preliminary identification of selenomethionine (SeMet), Se-methylselenocysteine (SeMeCys), and selenate in extracts of potato skin and flesh was achieved using complementary reversed phase and anion-exchange HPLC-ICP-MS and retention time matching with standards. The quantitative speciation data revealed a higher percentage of selenomethionine (73% of the total Se) found in the flesh in comparison with skin (containing 21% of the total Se as SeMet). ASE and boiling in water were found to be similar in terms of Se extraction efficiency and profiles. However, ASE was found to be more efficient than boiling with respect to sample cleanup and reduced sample handling. The presence of SeMet at parts per billion levels in selenized potatoes was confirmed by reversed phase HPLC with online ESI MS/MS.