Metabolic Profiling Comparison of Human Pancreatic Ductal Epithelial Cells and Three Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines using NMR Based Metabonomics

Metabolic profiles of hydrophilic and lipophilic cell extracts from three cancer cell lines, Miapaca-2, Panc-1 and AsPC-1, and a non-cancerous pancreatic ductal epithelial cell line, H6C7, were examined by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Over twenty five hydrophilic metabolites were identified by principal component and statistical significance analyses as distinguishing the four cell types. Fifteen metabolites were identified with significantly altered concentrations in all cancer cells, e.g. absence of phosphatidylgrycerol and phosphatidylcholine, and increased phosphatidylethanolamine and cholesterols. Altered concentrations of metabolites involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism, lipopolysaccharide and fatty acid biosynthesis indicated differences in cellular membrane composition between non-cancerous and cancer cells. In addition to cancer specific metabolites, several metabolite changes were unique to each cancer cell line. Increased N-acetyl groups in AsPC-1, octanoic acids in Panc-1, and UDP species in Miapaca-2 indicated differences in cellular membrane composition between the cancer cell lines. Induced glutamine metabolism and protein synthesis in cancer cells were indicated by absence of glutamine other metabolites such as acetate, lactate, serine, branched amino acids, and succinate. Knowledge of the specifically altered metabolic pathways identified in these pancreatic cancer cell lines may be useful for identifying new therapeutic targets and studying the effects of potential new therapeutic drugs.