Work

A Thin Film Micro-Extraction Based Salivary Metabolomics and Chemometric Strategy for Rapid Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: In this study, a novel thin-film microextraction (TFME) technique integrated with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is introduced for the rapid, selective, and reproducible extraction of salivary metabolites. The developed TFME approach offers high throughput, reduced solvent consumption, and enhanced analytical performance, enabling the identification and quantification of key metabolic biomarkers associated with lung cancer. The objective of this workflow is to advance saliva-based metabolomics toward clinical translation, offering a promising avenue for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of lung cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: -coated TFME blades was used for metabolite extraction (Figure 1). Blades were immersed in diluted saliva samples and rotated at 850 rpm for 150 minutes to allow analyte adsorption, followed by desorption of analytes in 0.1% formic acid for 30 minutes. Desorbed solutions were spiked with 0.5 µg/mL ornidazole as an internal standard prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. RESULTS: : 0.9841-0.9975), sensitivity (limit of detection: 0.014-0.97 μg/mL; limit of quantification: 0.046-3.20 μg/mL), precision (%relative standard deviation <20%), and accuracy (85-125% for most metabolites). Pathway analysis revealed significant alterations in the metabolism of phenylalanine, purine, tyrosine, histidine, and methionine. The Heatmap visualization showed increased levels of proline, hypoxanthine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine in lung cancer patients. receiver operating characteristic curve analysis highlighted these metabolites as potential biomarkers, with proline exhibiting the highest diagnostic performance [area under the curve (AUC): 0.946], followed by hypoxanthine (AUC: 0.933) and phenylalanine (AUC: 0.905). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrate that the TFME approach is a reliable and efficient platform for metabolomic profiling in lung cancer. Using pre-treatment saliva samples, the method achieved a sensitivity exceeding 90% for detecting newly diagnosed histopathologically confirmed patients. Among the metabolites analyzed, proline, hypoxanthine, and phenylalanine showed strong diagnostic potential, consistent with the pathway analyses implicating purine and phenylalanine metabolism. These results underscore the potential of salivary metabolomics as a non-invasive screening alternative in the absence of validated early lung cancer biomarkers. Additionally, TFME's high-throughput capacity, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability support its feasibility for routine clinical application.

Source: Thoracic research and practice

DOI: 10.4274/thoracrespract.2025.s007