Serum metabolomics of laryngeal cancer based on liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The discovery of new laryngeal cancer-related metabolite biomarkers could help to facilitate early diagnosis. A serum metabolomics study from laryngeal cancer patients and healthy individuals was conducted using liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Univariate and multivariate statistics were used to discriminate laryngeal cancer patients and healthy individuals. 1-Palmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (LysoPC 16:0), 1-o-hexadecyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (PAF) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine were found to be significantly different between the laryngeal cancer group and the healthy group. They are mainly involved in phospholipids catabolism, linoleic acid metabolism, -linoleic acid metabolism and arachidonic acid metabolism. The area under the curve of the biomarker combined by two metabolites (LysoPC 16:0 and PAF) was 0.935, the sensitivity was 0.962 and the specificity was 0.825. LysoPC 16:0 and PAF may show diagnostic potential for laryngeal carcinoma.