Serum proton NMR metabolomics analysis of human lung cancer following microwave ablation

BACKGROUND: To find potential serum biomarkers of microwave ablation (MWA) for treatment of human lung cancer by (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics analysis. METHODS: Serum specimens collected from 43 healthy individuals, 39 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 38 NSCLC patients treated with MWA, were subjected to (1)H NMR-based metabolomics analysis. Partial least squares discriminant analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, NSCLC patients showed significantly elevated serum levels of lactate, alanine, glutamate, proline, glycoprotein, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, and markedly decreased serum levels of glucose, taurine, glutamine, glycine, phosphocreatine and threonine (p < 0.05). MWA treatment reversed the metabolic profiles of NSCLC patients towards the control group. CONCLUSIONS: (1)H NMR-based metabolomics analysis enhanced the current understanding of the mechanisms involved in NSCLC, and uncovered the therapeutic potential of MWA for treatment of NSCLC. The above disturbed serum metabolites were proposed to be the potential biomarkers that may help to predict NSCLC and to evaluate the efficacy of MWA in the treatment of NSCLC. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13014-018-0982-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.