Lipidomic Profiling of Lung Pleural Effusion Identifies Unique Metabotype for EGFR Mutants in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Cytology and histology forms the cornerstone for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but obtaining sufficient tumour cells or tissue biopsies for these tests remains a challenge. We investigate the lipidome of lung pleural effusion (PE) for unique metabolic signatures to discriminate benign versus malignant PE and EGFR versus non-EGFR malignant subgroups to identify novel diagnostic markers that is independent of tumour cell availability. Using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, we profiled the lipidomes of the PE of 30 benign and 41 malignant cases with or without EGFR mutation.