Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients have late presentation at the time of diagnosis and a poor prognosis. Metal dyshomeostasis is known to play a role in cancer progression. However, the blood and tissue metallome of PDAC patients has not been assessed. This study aimed to determine the levels of essential and toxic metals in the serum and pancreatic tissue from PDAC patients. Serum samples were obtained from PDAC patients before surgical resection. Tissue (tumor and adjacent normal pancreas) were obtained from the surgically resected specimen. Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis was performed to quantify the levels of 10 essential and 3 toxic metals in these samples. Statistical analysis was performed to identify dysregulated metals in PDAC and their role as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Significantly decreased serum levels of magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, arsenic, and mercury and increased levels of molybdenum were shown to be associated with PDAC. There were significantly decreased levels of zinc, manganese and molybdenum, and increased levels of calcium and selenium in the pancreatic tumor tissue compared with the adjacent normal pancreas. Notably, lower serum levels of calcium, iron, and selenium, and higher levels of manganese, were significantly associated with a poor prognosis (i.e., overall survival) in PDAC patients. In conclusion, this is the first study to comprehensively assess the serum and tissue metallome of PDAC patients. It identified the association of metals with PDAC diagnosis and prognosis.

中文翻译：

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胰腺导管腺癌的血清和组织金属组

胰腺导管腺癌（PDAC）患者在诊断时就诊较晚，预后较差。已知金属动态平衡失调在癌症进展中发挥作用。然而，PDAC 患者的血液和组织金属组尚未进行评估。本研究旨在确定 PDAC 患者血清和胰腺组织中必需金属和有毒金属的水平。血清样本取自手术切除前的 PDAC 患者。从手术切除的标本中获取组织（肿瘤和邻近的正常胰腺）。通过电感耦合等离子体质谱 (ICP-MS) 分析来量化这些样品中 10 种必需金属和 3 种有毒金属的水平。进行统计分析以确定 PDAC 中失调的金属及其作为潜在诊断和预后生物标志物的作用。镁、钾、钙、铁、锌、硒、砷和汞的血清水平显着降低，钼水平升高与 PDAC 相关。与癌旁正常胰腺相比，胰腺肿瘤组织中锌、锰、钼含量显着降低，钙、硒含量显着升高。值得注意的是，较低的血清钙、铁和硒水平以及较高的锰水平与 PDAC 患者的不良预后（即总生存期）显着相关。总之，这是第一个全面评估 PDAC 患者血清和组织金属组的研究。它确定了金属与 PDAC 诊断和预后的关联。