Carbon-bound exogenous compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tobacco-specific nitrosamines, aromatic amines, and organohalogens, are known to affect both tumor characteristics and patient outcomes in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC); however, the roles of these compounds in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain unclear. We analyzed 11 carbon-bound exogenous compounds in LUAD and LUSC samples using in situ high mass-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry imaging and performed a cluster analysis to compare the patterns of carbon-bound exogenous compounds between these two lung cancer subtypes. Correlation analyses were conducted to investigate associations among exogenous compounds, endogenous metabolites, and clinical data, including patient survival outcomes and smoking behaviors. Additionally, we examined differences in exogenous compound patterns between normal and tumor tissues. Our analyses revealed that PAHs, aromatic amines, and organohalogens were more abundant in LUAD than in LUSC, whereas the tobacco-specific nitrosamine nicotine-derived nitrosamine ketone was more abundant in LUSC. Patients with LUAD and LUSC could be separated according to carbon-bound exogenous compound patterns detected in the tumor compartment. The same compounds had differential impacts on patient outcomes, depending on the cancer subtype. Correlation and network analyses indicated substantial differences between LUAD and LUSC metabolomes, associated with substantial differences in the patterns of the carbon-bound exogenous compounds. These data suggest that the contributions of these carcinogenic compounds to cancer biology may differ according to the cancer subtypes.
Keywords: carbon particles; carbon-bound exogenous compounds; mass spectrometry imaging; non-small cell lung cancer; pathophysiology.