Amino acid profiles in the tissue and serum of patients with liver cancer

Most patients with liver cancer were found late and lost the chance of surgery. Liquid biopsy can monitor the risk of tumor recurrence and metastasis, quickly evaluate the curative effect of tumor treatment, and is conducive to early screening and auxiliary diagnosis of high-risk groups. Amino acid (AA) profiling has been used to the diagnosis and the prognosis for cancers. However, little was known about the profiles of AA of liver cancer. In this study, we used tRNA in Cancer database to analyze the AA levels in liver cancer tissues. Blood samples of patients with liver cancer were collected and analyzed using the automatic AA analyzer. We found that valine, isoleucine, and leucine were decreased significantly both in the plasma and the tumor tissues of patients with liver cancer. However, upregulation of methionine was observed in tissues and plasma of patients with liver cancer. Interestingly, tyrosine, and phenylalanine were decreased in tumor tissue but increased in the plasma of patients with liver cancer. This is the first report provided an overview of AA profile in both plasma and tissue for patients with liver cancer. AA levels can be used as diagnostic and prognostic markers of patients with liver cancer.