OBJECTIVETo identify the biomarkers of renal cell cancer (RCC) through urine metabolic analysis.

METHODSUrine samples of 27 RCC patients, 26 patients with other urinary cancers and 26 healthy volunteers were examined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). SIMCA-P+12.0.1.0 software was used for principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to screen for the differential metabolites.

RESULTSPCA (R2X=0.846, Q2=0.575) and OPLS-DA (R2X=0.736, R2Y=0.974, Q2Y=0.897) model were established for the RCC patients and control subjects. Fourteen metabolites were selected as the characteristic metabolites, including pentanoic acid, malonic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, amino quinoline, quinoline, indole acetic acid, and tryptophan, whose levels in the urine were significantly higher in the RCC patients than in the normal subjects (P<0.01); the RCC patients showed significantly higher urine contents of pentanoic acid, phenylalanine, and 6-methoxy-nitro quinoline than those with other urinary tumors (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe urine metabolites identified based on GC-MS analysis can distinguish RCC patients from patients with other urinary cancers and healthy subjects, suggesting their potential as diagnostic markers for RCC.