Abstract: Objective To identify the biomarkers of renal cell cancer (RCC) through urine metabolic analysis. Methods Urine
samples of 27 RCC patients, 26 patients with other urinary cancers and 26 healthy volunteers were examined with gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). SIMCA-P+12.0.1.0 software was used for principal component analysis (PCA)
and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to screen for the differential metabolites. Results PCA
(R2X=0.846, Q2=0.575) and OPLS-DA (R2X=0.736, R2Y=0.974, Q2Y=0.897) model were established for the RCC patients and
control subjects. Fourteen metabolites were selected as the characteristic metabolites, including pentanoic acid, malonic acid,
glutaric acid, adipic acid, amino quinoline, quinoline, indole acetic acid, and tryptophan, whose levels in the urine were
significantly higher in the RCC patients than in the normal subjects (P<0.01); the RCC patients showed significantly higher
urine contents of pentanoic acid, phenylalanine, and 6-methoxy-nitro quinoline than those with other urinary tumors (P<0.01).
Conclusion The urine metabolites identified based on GC-MS analysis can distinguish RCC patients from patients with other
urinary cancers and healthy subjects, suggesting their potential as diagnostic markers for RCC.