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Lipidomics is an emerging and promising branch that analyses the different lipid mole-cules in a biological sample. It is considered a branch of metabolomics, which is defined as the comprehensive analysis of metabolites in a biological specimen. Nonetheless, in recent years lipidomics is becoming a distinct discipline in the biomedicine field. Lipids play important roles in many biological pathways and can work as biomarkers of disease or therapeutic targets for the treatment of diseases. The major lipidomics strategies are shotgun lipidomics and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Gastro-intestinal 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 significantly increased risk of colorectal cancer, principally resulting from the pro-neoplastic effects of chronic intesti-nal inflammation. Current screening methods utilized globally include sigmoidoscopy or standard colonoscopy, but it is important to develop non-invasive and accurate screen-ing tools to facilitate early detection and precise staging of colorectal cancer. Disease progression and response to treatment may also benefit from the application of these potential new tools. This review focuses on studies that use lipidomics approaches to discover potential biomarkers for monitoring the mentioned intestinal diseases and, par-ticularly, tumor progression.
Rational Use of Fecal Calprotectin in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
