Comparative metabolomics of MCF-7 breast cancer cells using different extraction solvents assessed by mass spectroscopy

Metabolic profiling of cancer cells can play a vital role in revealing the molecular bases of cancer development and progression. In this study, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed for the determination of signatures found in ER+/PR+ breast cancer cells derived from MCF-7 using different extraction solvents including: A, formic acid in water; B, ammonium hydroxide in water; C, ethyl acetate; D, methanol: water (1:1, v/v); and E, acetonitrile: water (1:1, v/v). The greatest extraction rate and diversity of metabolites occurs with extraction solvents A and E. Extraction solvent D showed moderate extraction efficiency, whereas extraction solvent B and C showed inferior metabolite diversity. Metabolite set enrichment analysis (MSEA) results showed energy production pathways to be key in MCF-7 cell lines. This study showed that mass spectrometry could identify key metabolites associated with cancers. The highest enriched pathways were related to energy production as well as Warburg effect pathways, which may shed light on how energy metabolism has been hijacked to encourage tumour progression and eventually metastasis in breast cancer.