Dear Editor,
I happened to read the article “Metabolomic profile and its association with the diagnosis of prostate cancer: a systematic review” and would like to add some comments. Some strengths of the article include the approach employed in identifying various metabolites promising an early and accurate diagnostic detection, its focus on the current challenges, which make it difficult to distinguish between PCa and other indolent forms, and a reduction in the use of unnecessary invasive procedures and biopsies, thus improving risk stratification.
However, there is a need to address some limitations present in the study. Firstly, the lack of “standardization” in sample handling and analysis can affect metabolite stability, leading to inconsistent results. Number two, the use of different analytical platforms, e.g., nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS), may yield varying metabolite profiles affecting the results, ultimately complicating cross-study comparisons (Zhan et al. 2023). Thirdly, the study relies on single-timepoint analyses, which do that do not effectively capture the dynamic metabolic changes during disease progression or treatment. Thus, a need for more longitudinal studies to establish the temporal stability of identified biomarkers remains persistent.
Furthermore, the influence of confounding factors like diet, medication use, and comorbidities requires further research as they greatly alter metabolomic profiles and should be carefully controlled (Mika et al. 2022).
Lastly, integrating metabolomics with other omics technologies (like, for example, genomics and proteomics) could offer a more comprehensive understanding of PCa biology (Wörheide et al. 2021). These limitations could serve as a guide for future researchers.
Author contributions
U.C. and R.S. conceptualized and wrote the initial draft. S.C. and H.E.C. reviewed and formatted the manuscript.
Funding
The study received no funding.
Data availability
No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Footnotes
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References
- Mika A, Janczy A, Waleron K, Szymanski M, Kaska L, Sledzinski T (2022) The impact of the interplay of the intestinal Microbiome and diet on the metabolomic and health outcomes of bariatric surgery. Obes Reviews: Official J Int Association Study Obes 23(8):e13455. 10.1111/obr.13455 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wörheide MA, Krumsiek J, Kastenmüller G, Arnold M (2021) Multi-omics integration in biomedical research – A metabolomics-centric review. Anal Chim Acta 1141:144–162. 10.1016/j.aca.2020.10.038 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zhan C, Tang T, Wu E, Zhang Y, He M, Wu R, Bi C, Wang J, Zhang Y, Shen B (2023) From multi-omics approaches to personalized medicine in myocardial infarction. Front Cardiovasc Med 10:1250340. 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1250340 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Associated Data
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Data Availability Statement
No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.