Comparative 1H NMR - Based Metabolomic Investigation of African American and Caucasian Smokers

Undergraduate #171
Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Cancer Research

Meleq Williams - Claflin University
Co-Author(s): Essie Campbell, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC; Mikayla Brown, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC; Kiariah Muller, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC; Marquise Walker, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC; Chris Mitchell, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC; Srishti Kala, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC

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The prevalence of cancer related effects due to cigarette smoking is higher among African Americans than Caucasian, although they smoke fewer cigarettes. Studies have shown that African Americans do not metabolize nicotine as efficiently as Caucasians. Genetic and physiological evidence suggests that the activation of serine and glycine biosynthetic pathway is a crucial process in cancer pathogenesis. These two metabolites are biosynthetically linked and together provide the essential precursors for the synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids that are crucial for cell growth. Cancer cells are also known to have specific metabolic programming supporting cell growth and proliferation. We hypothesize that glycine metabolism is different in African Americans than of other races. Metabolites were analyzed in urine samples using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Principal Component Analysis. Findings showed that amongst a few other significantly changing metabolites glycine was the major key in concluding that glycine metabolizes slower in African Americans than in Caucasian Smokers. In the future the P450 enzyme that researchers have found to be essential for the metabolism of many medications, will be used for further study of the pharmacological effects of medicines that aid the effects of nicotine metabolites. The significance of this study is to help researchers and practitioners to develop personalized treatments for each and every ethnic group undergoing cancer treatment based on genetic make up. For future studies, genotyping studies will conducted to shed insight into the polymorphic behavior of glycine metabolism and its correlation with smoking.

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Funder Acknowledgement(s): Claflin University; HBCU-UP

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Derrick Swinton, deswinton@claflin.edu

Role: I assisted in lab preparation and analysis of data collected using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Lab preparation included labeling and separating samples to be prepared for NMR and PCA analysis.