Key lipid reprogramming revealed in gastric signet ring cell carcinoma by spatial mass spectrometry metabolomics
Gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (GSRC) is an aggressive subtype of gastric cancer (GC) with a poor prognosis. The lack of a systematic molecular and metabolic heterogeneity overview has led to slow progress in its clinical practice. This study used mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to investigate the metabolic landscape of GSRC in GC tissue with various differentiation grades. Our comprehensive spatial profiling of metabolites and lipids unveiled distinct metabolic signatures across different tissue subregions. A substantial number of lipidomic biomarkers associated with GSRC were identified, including phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyl (PE-NMe), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), sphingomyelin (SM), diacylglycerol (DG), phosphatidic acid (PA), and phosphatidylcholine (PC), which may provide insights into its pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets. Furthermore, multi-omic network analysis revealed intricate metabolic pathways involved in GSRC progression. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the metabolic heterogeneity of GSRC and pave the way for future studies exploring its clinical implications and therapeutic strategies.
The dataset consists of spatially resolved metabolomics data and associated code for data processing and visualization.
For questions or feedback, please contact the corresponding author Cheng Wang (chengwang@sdu.edu.cn).