Heterogeneity of metabolic adaptive capacity affects the prognosis among pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas

BACKGROUND: Evolutionary cancer has a supply mechanism to satisfy higher energy demands even in poor-nutrient conditions. Metabolic reprogramming is essential to supply sufficient energy. The relationship between metabolic reprogramming and the clinical course of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear. We aimed to clarify the differences in metabolic status among PDAC patients. METHODS: We collected clinical data from 128 cases of resectable PDAC patients undergoing surgery. Sixty-three resected tissues, 15 tissues from the low carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), 38–100 U/mL, and high CA19-9, > 500 U/mL groups, and 33 non-tumor control parts, were subjected to tandem mass spectrometry workflow to systematically explore metabolic status. Clinical and proteomic data were compared on the most used PDAC biomarker, preoperative CA19-9 value. RESULTS: Higher CA19-9 levels were clearly associated with higher early recurrence (p < 0.001), decreased RFS (p < 0.001), and decreased DSS (p = 0.025). From proteomic analysis, we discovered that cancer evolution-related as well as various metabolism-related pathways were more notable in the high group. Using resected tissue immunohistochemical staining, we learned that high CA19-9 PDAC demonstrated aerobic glycolysis enhancement, yet no decrease in protein synthesis. We found a heterogeneity of various metabolic processes, including carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, lipids, and nucleic acids, between the low and the high groups, suggesting differences in metabolic adaptive capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found metabolic adaptation differences among PDAC cases, pertaining to both cancer evolution and the prognosis. CA19-9 can help estimate the metabolic adaptive capacity of energy supply for PDAC evolution. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00535-022-01898-0.