Bioinformatical evaluation of modified nucleosides as biomedical markers in diagnosis of breast cancer

It is known that patients suffering from cancer diseases excrete increased amounts of modified nucleosides with their urine. Especially methylated nucleosides have been proposed to be potential tumor markers for early diagnosis of cancer. For determination of nucleosides in randomly collected urine samples, the nucleosides were extracted using affinity chromatography and then analyzed via reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV-detection. Eleven nucleosides were quantified in urine samples from 51 breast cancer patients and 65 healthy women.The measured concentrations were used to train a Support Vector Machine (SVM) and a k-nearest-neighbor classifier (k-NN) to discriminate between healthy control subjects and patients suffering from breast cancer. Evaluations of the learned models by computing the leave-one-out error and the prediction error on an independent test set of 29 subjects (15 healthy, 14 breast cancer patients) showed that by using the eleven nucleosides, the occurrence of breast cancer could be forecasted with 86% specificity and 94% sensitivity when using an SVM and 86% for both specificity and sensitivity with the k-NN model.     

Study of normal and modified nucleosides in serum by RP-HPLC

Summary Modified nucleosides derived predominantly from transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) have been studied as possible tumor markers. In this paper a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method has been applied to study 15 normal and modified nucleosides in serum. The nucleoside levels in normal human serum were established, and the concentrations of 15 nucleosides in serum from 19 cancer patients were determined. It was found that the concentrations of modified nucleosides were significantly higher in patient sera. Based on 15 nucleoside concentrations in serum, factor analysis could classify correctly 90% of cancer patients from the normal humans. Further work showed that urine was slightly better than serum when determining nucleosides as biological marker candidates. More work is ongoing to determine the clinical usefulness of modified nucleosides as tumor markers.     

HPLC/ESI-Q-TOF MS鉴定淋巴癌患者尿液中的修饰核苷

尿液修饰核苷反映了机体RNA的代谢速率及细胞增殖状况, 可以作为非常有发展潜力的肿瘤标志物进行研究. 尿液中的修饰核苷采用Oasis®HLB固相萃取柱进行纯化, 利用高效液相色谱与电喷雾质谱联用(HPLC-ESI-MS)、高分辨质谱(HRMS)及串联质谱(MS/MS)技术进行分离鉴定. 对淋巴癌患者尿中修饰核苷研究发现, 9种尿液核苷与标样的信息完全一致, 17种无标样的尿液修饰核苷也被鉴定, 其中包括3-甲基腺苷、7-甲基腺嘌呤、5′-脱氢-2′-脱氧次黄苷、3-甲基鸟嘌呤、O6-甲基鸟苷和7-甲基-1-乙基鸟苷6种未见报道的新尿液修饰核苷. 此方法能在无对照品的情况下快速、准确地提纯、分离和鉴定复杂的生物样品.     

Analysis of modified nucleosides in the urine of patients with malignant cancer by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

As modified nucleosides reflect altered tRNA turnover which seems to be impaired in the body of cancer patients, they have been evaluated as potential tumor markers. High-performance liquid chromatography/electrosprary ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-Q-TOFMS) was used to identify nucleosides purified from urine in positive ionization mode. Potential nucleosides were assessed by their evident UV absorbance in HPLC and then further examined by mass spectrometric techniques. In this manner, 21 nucleosides were detected in the urine of a patient with lymphoid cancer including three modified nucleosides 5'-dehydro-2-deoxyinosine, N1,N2,N7-trimethylguanosine and N1-methyl-N2-ethylguanosine, which had never been reported previously.     

Direct determination of nucleosides in the urine of patients with breast cancer using column-switching liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

We developed an analytical method for a simple, sensitive and simultaneous determination of oxidized nucleosides in urine using column-switching liquid chromatography-electrospray/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS). We connected two columns through a six-way switching valve and effectively separated nucleosides in the urine from the interference by column-switching liquid chromatography. We monitored separated nucleosides using positive ionization tandem mass spectrometry in selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The calibration ranges of nucleosides were 0.2-100 nmol/mL. The linearity of the method was 0.994-0.999, and the limits-of-detection (LOD) at a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 3 were 0.1-0.2 nmol/mL. The coefficients of variation were in the range 2.28-11.74% for within-day variation and 4.36-11.15% for day-to-day variation, respectively. To explore the relationship between breast cancer and the nucleosides level in human urine, we measured the concentrations of nucleosides in female patients with breast cancer (n = 30) and in normal female subjects (n = 30). The concentration of nucleosides was significantly increased in patients with breast cancer when compared with the normal controls (1-methyladenosine; p < 0.005, N(2),N(2)-dimethylguanosine; p < 0.01, 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine; p < 0.001, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine; p < 0.001). Therefore, the elevated levels of nucleosides could be used as an important biomarker for breast-cancer research.     

Study of urinary nucleosides as biological marker in cancer patients analyzed by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Thirteen normal and modified nucleosides, primarily degradation products of transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), were evaluated as potential tumor markers for cancer patients. Their urinary concentrations were determined by means of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) in the urine from 54 healthy adults and 70 cancer patients, then quantitatively expressed as a function of creatinine excretion. It was found that urinary nucleosides for cancer patients were on the average significantly higher than those for healthy controls, however, no significant differences were found between male and female or between different ages. Based on 13 urinary nucleoside concentrations, principal component analysis (PCA) could be used to classify 72% of cancer patients from the healthy controls. The present study shows that the precise measurement of urinary nucleosides by MEKC in combining with PCA technique may provide a clinically useful approach for diagnosis of cancer.     

Analysis of urinary nucleosides as helper tumor markers in hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common neoplasm in Taiwan, for which early diagnosis is difficult and the prognosis is usually poor. HCC is usually diagnosed by abdominal sonography and serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) detection. Modified nucleosides, regarded as indicators for the whole‐body turnover of RNAs, are excreted in abnormal amounts in the urine of patients with malignancies and can serve as tumor markers. We analyzed the excretion patterns of urinary nucleosides from 25 HCC patients and 20 healthy volunteers by high‐performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI‐MS/MS) under optimized conditions. The HPLC/ESI‐MS/MS approach with selective reaction monitoring (SRM) allowed for the sensitive determination of nucleosides in human urine samples. The mean levels of the urinary nucleosides adenosine, cytidine, and inosine were significantly higher in HCC patients than healthy volunteers (average of 1.78‐, 2.26‐, and 1.47‐fold, respectively). However, the mean levels of urinary 1‐methyladenosine, 3‐methylcytidine, uridine, and 2′‐deoxyguanosine were not significantly different. Combined with the determination of serum AFP levels, the higher levels of urinary adenosine, cytidine, and inosine may be additional diagnosis markers for HCC in Taiwanese patients. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

乳腺癌代谢物组模式特征发现方法及HPLC/M S/M S分析

提出一种基于单独最优特征组合和BP神经网络的代谢物组模式特征发现方法,并用其寻找到尿样中与乳腺癌最为相关的4种核苷,组成一组特异性检测参数.经HPLC/MS/MS联用法鉴定,它们是乳清酸核苷、1-甲酰化腺苷、S-腺苷-L-蛋氨酸及N²-甲酰化鸟苷.将这4种核苷作为输入变量,用BP神经分类网络建立乳腺癌诊断模型.留一法交叉验证和独立验证结果表明,该模型预测准确率达到90%以上.     

Quantitative high-performance liquid chromatography of nucleosides in biological materials

A rigorous, comprehensive, and reliable reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the analysis of ribonucleosides in urine (psi, m1A, m1I, m2G, A, m2(2)G). An initial isolation of ribonucleosides with an affinity gel containing an immobilized phenylboronic acid was used to improve selectivity and sensitivity. Response for all nucleosides was linear from 0.1 to 50 nmoles injected and good quantitation was obtained for 25 microliter or less of sample placed on the HPLC column. Excellent precision of analysis for urinary nucleosides was achieved on matrix dependent and independent samples, and the high resolution of the reversed-phase column allowed the complete separation of 9 nucleosides from other unidentified UV absorbing components at the 1-ng level. Supporting experimental data are presented on precision, recovery, chromatographic methods, minimum detection limit, retention time, relative molar response, sample clean-up, stability of nucleosides, boronate gel capacity, and application to analysis of urine from patients with leukemia and breast cancer. This method is now being used routinely for the determination of the concentration and ratios of nucleosides in urine from patients with different types of cancer and in chemotherapy response studies.     

Upregulated plasma and urinary levels of nucleosides as biological markers in the diagnosis of primary gallbladder cancer

We first detected aberrant nucleoside levels in the plasma, urine, bile, and tissues from cases and controls to explore them as biomarkers in the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer. Reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography was used to assess the levels of ten nucleosides in these samples from gallbladder cancer patients, gallstone patients, and healthy controls. Plasma and urine samples were collected from patients with gallbladder cancer (n = 202), patients with gallstones (n = 203), and healthy controls (n = 205); bile and tissue samples were collected from 91 gallbladder cancer patients, 93 gallstone patients; and 90 were donated after cardiac death. Of the ten nucleosides analyzed, eight urinary nucleosides, five plasma nucleosides, three bile nucleosides, and one tissue nucleoside were significantly upregulated in the gallbladder cancer patients compared to control groups (p < 0.05). Among these upregulated nucleosides, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of urinary nucleosides in the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer patients were 89.4, 97.1, and 95.7%, respectively, those of plasma nucleosides were 91.2, 95.6, and 94.2%, respectively, those of bile nucleosides were 95.3, 96.4, and 95.1%, respectively, and those of tissue nucleosides were 86.2, 93.8, and 92.6%, respectively. These results suggest that nucleosides may be as useful as biological markers for gallbladder cancer.     

尿中核苷排放模式测定的两种方法─-HPLC和CE法(英文)

癌症病人在尿中排放比常人高得多的叶啉和嘧啶,这些改性核耷是RNA的主要组成。由于其增加的排放与癌变的RNA周转有关,已被建议和研究作肿瘤标记物。文章给出测定尿中核苷的反相高效液相色谱法和毛细管电泳方法。两种方法所得数据一致。用此方法建立了正常人尿中核苷的排放水平,并测定了34个癌症病人尿中核苷浓度,观察到改性核着浓度明显的增高现象。结果袭明,两个方法均适于大量尿样的核苷与癌症关系的临床研究。     

尿中核苷排放模式测定的两种方法─-HPLC和CE法(英文)

 癌症病人在尿中排放比常人高得多的叶啉和嘧啶,这些改性核耷是RNA的主要组成。由于其增加的排放与癌变的RNA周转有关,已被建议和研究作肿瘤标记物。文章给出测定尿中核苷的反相高效液相色谱法和毛细管电泳方法。两种方法所得数据一致。用此方法建立了正常人尿中核苷的排放水平,并测定了34个癌症病人尿中核苷浓度,观察到改性核着浓度明显的增高现象。结果袭明,两个方法均适于大量尿样的核苷与癌症关系的临床研究。     

A rapid and sensitive method for quantitation of nucleosides in human urine using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with direct urine injection

Oxidized nucleosides are biochemical markers for tumors, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, during the last decade, the analytical methods for nucleosides by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with single-parameter detectors like electron-capture detection (ECD) have not been sufficiently rapid or reliable to detect nucleosides in urine and to analyze clinical samples. It has been reported (Dudley et al., Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2000; 14: 1200) that liquid chromatography with electrospray mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) is more specific and sensitive for analysis of nucleosides than HPLC with conventional detectors; however, this method required complex extraction steps. In the present work a direct LC/ESI-MS method for nucleosides without extraction of urine samples has been developed. Analysis of nucleosides using positive-ion mode with selected reaction monitoring effectively eliminated potential interferences from endogenous constituents of the urine. This highly selective and sensitive method made it possible to analyze urinary nucleosides with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.2 nmol/mL. The method has been validated, with both excellent linearity and reproducibility, in the calibration range from 0.2-400 nmol/mL. The correlation coefficients of the calibration curves were higher than 0.987. The coefficients of variation were in the range 0.03-14.92% (inter-day) and 0.54-14.39% (intra-day), respectively.     

Novel approach for developing urinary nucleosides profile by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

A simple, rapid and efficient capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) method was developed to analyze urinary nucleosides for the first time. The composition of CE buffer and MS parameters were systematically optimized. The optimum buffer was 150 mM acetic acid containing 15% methanol and 15% ethanol. The optimum MS parameters were: methanol containing 0.5% acetic acid was selected as the sheath liquid and the flow rate was 5 microL/min; the flow rate and temperature of drying gas were 6L/min and 150 degrees C, respectively; the pressure of nebulizing gas was 2 psig; and the fragmentor and ESI voltage were 100 V and 4000 V, respectively. Under the optimum CE-MS conditions, the urinary nucleosides were separated within 18 min. The linearity between the relative peak areas and the corresponding concentration of nine nucleosides markers were excellent. The limits of detection (S/N=3) of markers were 0.00862-3.82 nmol/mL. The optimum CE-MS method was applied to analyze urine from 20 bladder cancer patients and 20 healthy volunteers. Considering the standards of many nucleosides cannot be obtained, it is not the ratios of the concentrations of nucleosides to that of creatinine in the literatures, but the ratios of the relative peak area of nucleosides to the concentration of creatinine that used for pattern recognition. And, the statistical analysis result indicated this method was feasible.     

Towards a proteome signature for invasive ductal breast carcinoma derived from label-free nanoscale LC-MS protein expression profiling of tumorous and glandular tissue

As more and more alternative treatments become available for breast carcinoma, there is a need to stratify patients and individual molecular information seems to be suitable for this purpose. In this study, we applied label-free protein quantitation by nanoscale LC-MS and investigated whether this approach could be used for defining a proteome signature for invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Tissue samples from healthy breast and tumor were collected from three patients. Protein identifications were based on LC-MS peptide fragmentation data which were obtained simultaneously to the quantitative information. Hereby, an invasive ductal breast carcinoma proteome signature was generated which contains 60 protein entries. The on-column concentrations for osteoinductive factor, vimentin, GAP-DH, and NDKA are provided as examples. These proteins represent distinctive gene ontology groups of differentially expressed proteins and are discussed as risk markers for primary tumor pathogenesis. The developed methodology has been found well applicable in a clinical environment in which standard operating procedures can be kept; a prerequisite for the definition of molecular parameter sets that shall be capable for stratification of patients.     

High resolution chromatography of ribonucleosides and its application to RNA analysis

A simple and precise method was developed for the separation of nucleosides including modified nucleosides and oligonucleotides. Nineteen kinds of nucleosides were completely separated by HPLC using an ODS column (TSK-gel ODS 80TM) and aqueous mobile phases. The RNA molecule was digested by base restrictive RNase (RNase A, RNase T1) and the digests were separated chromatographically into each oligonucleotide. The nucleoside composition of an oligonucleotide was then determined by this analytical system. It is thus possible to fit the oligonucleotide in the original RNA molecule by using modified bases as markers. The reaction site of quinacrine mustard for tRNA(Phe) (from yeast) could be determined by this analytical system.     

肠癌患者尿中核苷排放的高效液相法研究

 用反相高效液相法测定尿中核苷。通过苯基硼酸亲和法提取尿中核苷,在柱(4 6mmi d ×250mm,5μm)上以25mmol/L磷酸二氢钾溶液(pH4 55)和60%的甲醇水溶液作为流动相进行二元梯度淋洗,于22℃下进行反相分离,260nm处紫外检测。用该法测定了41例肠癌患者和52例正常人尿中15种核苷的含量(用核苷与肌酐的摩尔比表示,下同),结果表明肠癌患者中有12种核苷的含量比正常人显著性增高(P<0 001)。以15种核苷的含量作为参量,结合主成分分析区分正常人和肠癌患者,对癌症病人的识别率达76%(31/41)。     

Electrophoretic separation of some nucleosides for the diagnosis of mastopathy and fibroadenoma

Mixtures of 13 normal and modified nucleosides in a 70 mM phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.7) supplemented with 100 mM of sodium dodecyl sulfate were separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography in 25 min. Electrophoretic profiles of urine are obtained; it is demonstrated that 1-methylinosine and 1-methylguanosine nucleosides can be used as markers of precancerous states (mastopathy) and benign tumors (fibroadenoma).