The differential metabolite profiles of acute lymphoblastic leukaemic patients treated with 6-mercaptopurine using untargeted metabolomics approach

Background Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) has posed challenges to the clinician due to variable patients' responses and late diagnosis. With the advance in metabolomics, early detection and personalised treatment are possible. Methods Metabolomic profile of 21 ALL patients treated with 6-mercaptopurine and 10 healthy volunteers were analysed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry quadrupole-time of flight (LC/MS Q-TOF). Principal components analysis (PCA), recursive analysis, clustering and pathway analysis were performed using MassHunter Qualitative and Mass Profiler Professional (MPP) software. Results Several metabolites were found to be expressed differently in patients treated with 6-mercaptopurine. Interestingly, 13 metabolites were significantly differently expressed [p-value < 0.01 (unpaired t-test) and 2-fold change] in 19% of the patients who had relapses in their treatment. Down-regulated metabolites in relapsed patients were 1-tetrahexanoyl-2-(8-[3]-ladderane-octanyl)-sn-GPEtn, GPEtn (18:1(9Z)/0:0), GPCho(O-6:0/O-6:0), GPCho(O-2:0/O-1:0), methyl 8-[2-(2-formyl-vinyl)-3-hydroxy-5-oxo-cyclopentyl]-octanoate and plasma free amino acids (PFAA). Characterizing the subjects according to their ITPA 94C > A genotypes reveal differential expression of metabolites. Conclusions Our research contributes to identification of metabolites that could be used to monitor disease progress of patients and allow targeted therapy for ALL at different stages, especially in preventing complication of relapse.

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