Comprehensive plasma metabolomics and lipidomics of benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodules

Abstract

Introduction: Solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) are commonly found in imaging technologies, but are plagued by high false-positive rates.

Objective: We aimed to identify metabolic alterations in SPN etiology and diagnosis using less invasive plasma metabolomics and lipidomics.

Methods: In total, 1160 plasma samples were obtained from healthy volunteers (n = 280), benign SPNs (n = 157) and malignant SPNs (stage I, n = 723) patients enrolled from 5 independent centers. Gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC‒MS) and liquid chromatography-Q Exactive Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC‒MS) were used to analyze the samples for untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics.

Results and conclusion: GC‒MS-based metabolomics revealed 1336 metabolic features, while LC‒MS-based lipidomics revealed 6088 and 2542 lipid features in the positive and negative ion modes, respectively. The metabolic and lipidic characteristics of healthy vs. benign or malignant SPNs exhibited substantial pattern differences. Of note, benign and malignant SPNs had no significant variations in circulating metabolic and lipidic markers and were validated in four other centers. This study demonstrates evidence of early metabolic alterations that can possibly distinguish SPNs from healthy controls, but not between benign and malignant SPNs.

Keywords: Less invasive diagnosis; Lipidomics; Metabolomics; Solitary pulmonary nodules.