Metabolic footprints of cancer cells may help in early diagnosis, shows study

A study of hydrogen atoms in cells may pave the path for early detection of cancer in people, a group of scientists have claimed. 

Fast-growing cells such as cancer cells have a different balance of hydrogen atom variants than healthy cells, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and Princeton University found.

This “atomic marker” may serve as an indicator for detecting cancer in individuals before the disease advances, they claimed in the report published May 6, 2024 in the journal PNAS.

This tool, which is commonly used in geosciences, was derived from studying the metabolism of yeast cells and healthy and cancerous mouse liver cells. 

“Fermenting yeast cells, the kind that resemble cancer, contained roughly 50 per cent fewer deuterium atoms (a heavier and stable hydrogen variant) on average than the normal yeast cells, a startling change. Cancerous cells exhibited a similar but not quite as strong shortage in deuterium,” the researchers observed, according to a story on science news website Phys.org.

They tracked a chemical called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which is a reducing agent in anabolic reaction in cells. During synthesis of glucose, NADPH draws hydrogen and moves them to other molecules. 

But the source of the hydrogen may be any of the element’s isotopes. The metabolic origins of NADPH were found to differ to some extent in fast-growing cells and cancer cells, compared to healthy cells. “Changes in NADPH demand associated with cellular biochemical composition are also recorded in lipid hydrogen isotope ratios,” the researchers observed. 

The researchers pulled the fatty acids from the cells under observation and used a mass spectrometer to identify the ratio of hydrogen atoms within, according to Phys.org. 

“These results provide promising tools to characterise eukaryotic metabolism, thus helping to elucidate the role of NADPH in health and disease,” the authors stated in their report. 

Although the research is at a nascent stage, the findings are particularly important because it can help save many lives that are lost to cancer, merely because it was not diagnosed early enough. If the isotopic variation shows up in simple diagnostic processes like blood tests, it will ensure the disease has a better prognosis than what is observed in later stages, the researchers claimed.