Analytical Division, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Biomark Med. 2010 Apr;4(2):299-314. doi: 10.2217/bmm.10.6.
Metabolic profiling of biofluids is emerging as an important area with a promising number of applications in clinical medicine, including early diagnosis of numerous diseases that normally remain silent until late in the progress of disease. While blood and urine are more often used to explore biomarkers that distinguish he healthy from disease conditions, human bile is emerging as a rich source of biomarkers specifically for the cancers of the liver (hepatocellular carcinoma), bile ducts (cholangiocarcinoma), gallbladder and pancreas. This is owing to the fact that metabolites linked to the pathways of tumor cell metabolism are rich in bile by virtue of its association or proximity to the pathological source. Recent methodological developments have enabled the identification of a number of bile metabolites that have links with hepatopancreatobiliary diseases. Investigations of human bile are also considered to help the biomarker discovery process in vitro and provide avenues for translational research in detecting and following dynamic variations of biomarkers in clinical settings using noninvasive approaches, such as in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This article reviews the current status and potential applications of human bile as a source of biomarkers, with emphasis on metabolites, for early detection of cancers associated with the hepatopancreatobiliary system.
生物流体的代谢组学正在成为一个重要领域，在临床医学中有许多有前途的应用，包括对许多疾病的早期诊断，这些疾病通常在疾病进展的后期才会出现明显症状。虽然血液和尿液更常用于探索区分健康和疾病状态的生物标志物，但人类胆汁正成为肝脏（肝细胞癌）、胆管（胆管癌）、胆囊和胰腺癌症生物标志物的丰富来源。这是因为与肿瘤细胞代谢途径相关的代谢物由于与病理来源的关联或接近而在胆汁中含量丰富。最近的方法学发展使人们能够识别出一些与肝胆胰疾病有关的胆汁代谢物。对人类胆汁的研究也被认为有助于体外的生物标志物发现过程，并为使用非侵入性方法（如体内磁共振波谱）在临床环境中检测和跟踪生物标志物的动态变化提供转化研究的途径。本文综述了人类胆汁作为生物标志物来源的现状和潜在应用，重点介绍了与肝胆胰系统相关癌症早期检测相关的代谢物。
