Targeted metabolic profiling in determining the metabolic heterogeneity in human biopsies of different grades of glioma

Abstract

Abstract Gliomas are intricate tumors with numerous metabolic and genetic abnormalities contributing to their aggressive phenotypes and poor prognoses. The study aims at identifying the key molecular metabolic as well as gene expressional variations that could be used not only to differentiate between different grades of glioma, with potential for improved early diagnostics but also to obtain a deeper insight about metabolic observation of glioma. In the present study, the metabolomic profiling along with clinical, and expressional analyses of glioma biopsies (n = 56; patients comprising both of benign and malignant lesions) were analyzed. The biopsies were subjected to gene/protein expressional analysis using RT-PCR, western blotting and also were subjected to metabolite analyses. The results of the gene/protein expressional analysis exhibited elevated levels of carnitine palmitoyltransferase, monoglyceride lipase, human phosphofructokinase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase in higher grades of glioma when compared to those of control. Our study suggested that the metabolites and gene/protein expressional levels were found to be discriminative among the grades of glioma. The study is deemed as a provider of deeper insights that are essential for differential therapeutic approaches that specifically target the dysregulated metabolome to the benefit of patients.