Application of metabonomics in lung cancer

Metabolomics is one of omics technologies,which is gradually developed from the late 20th century.As a part of the systems biology,metabolomics is being widely used in the diagnosis, treatment,prognosis,and other aspects of various diseases,including cancer.Lung cancer is the tumor with the highest incidence and mortality. Five years survival rate differs significantly from early to late diagnosis.Metabolomics is used to identify the diagnostic biomarkers of lung cancer,it is also used to define biomarkers related to prognosis or toxicity/efficacy of therapeutic interventions.The latter makes the treatment of patients with lung cancer may become more individualized. At the same time, metabonomics allows to understand the pathophysiology of lung cancer in more depth.In this paper, definitions,methods of the metabonomics,two major technology platforms nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry and their application in lung cancer are reviewed. Key words: Metabonomics; Lung cancer; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Mass spectrometry