Lipidomics as Tools for Finding Biomarkers of Intestinal Pathology: From Irritable Bowel Syndrome to Colorectal Cancer

Lipidomics is an emerging and promising omic that analyzes different lipid molecules in a biological sample. It is considered as a branch of metabolomics, which is defined as the comprehensive analysis of metabolites in a biological specimen. Nonetheless, in recent years lipidomics is being considered a distinct discipline in the biomedicine field. Lipids play important roles in many biological pathways and could work as biomarkers of disease or as therapeutic targets for treatment diseases. The major lipidomics strategies are shotgun lipidomics and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease are chronic diseases that need non-invasive biomarkers for prognosis and diagnosis. Even more, patients with inflammatory bowel disease are at a significantly increased risk of colorectal cancer, principally resulting from the pro-neoplastic effects of chronic intestinal inflammation. Current screening methods utilized globally include sigmoidoscopy, or standard colonoscopy but it is important to develop non-invasive and accurate screening tools to facilitate early detection and precise staging of colorectal cancer. Disease progression and response to treatment may benefit also from the application of these potential new tools. This review is focused on studies that use lipidomics approaches to discover potential biomarkers for monitoring the mentioned intestinal diseases and, particularly, tumour progression.