代谢组学在食管癌早期诊断与应用中的研究进展

Research Progress on Metabolomics for Clinical Application of Esophageal Cancer

食管癌是世界上发病率和死亡率较高的癌种,而我国是食管癌疾病负担较重的国家。食管癌发生发展的具体分子机制尚不明确,难以提前干预。目前食管癌的早诊及筛查手段仍为侵入式的内镜下碘染色,成本高、实施复杂,一定程度影响了患者主动参与筛查的意愿。代谢组学是一种新兴组学技术,能从生物系统代谢层面入手,通过容易取得的机体检材,对受试者体内代谢组进行定性及定量分析,分析代谢通路的改变及相应调控通路,可以在食管癌发生发展的分子机制,以及食管癌早期诊断生物标志物的研究领域提供新的思路。全文就当前食管癌代谢组学研究的最新成果进行了总结,并对一些存在的问题进行思考与探讨。

Esophageal cancer is a cancer with high incidence and mortality in the world, and China is a country with a high disease burden of esophageal cancer. The specific molecular mechanisms underlying the development of esophageal cancer are still unclear, making it difficult to intervene in advance. The main means of early diagnosis and screening for esophageal cancer is still invasive, such as endoscopic iodine staining, which affects patients’ compliance to actively participate in screening. Metabolomics is a newly emerging technology that can provide information of metabolic levels of biological systems and the alterations of metabolic and related regulatory pathways through qualitative and quantitative analysis of easily accessible samples. Metabolomics studies provide new ideas of molecular mechanisms of esophageal cancer development and potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of esophageal cancer. This article reviews the latest results of metabolomics research on esophageal cancer and discusses some existing problems.