May-Britt Tessem1, Kirsten M. Selns2, Wenche Sjursen3, Gerd Tran4, Ingrid Gribbestad2, Eva Hofsli5
1Dept. of Circulation and medical imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , Trondheim, Norway; 2Dept. of Circulation and medical imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; 3Laboratory Medicine Childrens and Womens Health, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway; 4Dept. of Surgery, Hamar Hospital, Hamar, Norway; 5Dept. of Oncology, St. Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
Colon cancer is one of the most frequent cancers worldwide, and screening for biomarkers to reveal its biochemical mechanisms could improve tumor characterization. A long echo HR-MAS CPMG sequence was used to characterize metabolic profiles of human colon cancer tissue. Marked differences were found between healthy and cancer tissue, and between healthy and adenomas. There was minimal overlap between the individual metabolic profiles, and marked changes were seen in levels of taurine, inositols, choline-containing compounds and lactate. These metabolic changes are important biomarkers for colon cancer, and could be used to improve clinical diagnosis and characterisation of colon cancer.