|  | The number of molecules (Tumor/Normal) | The number of molecules (EP + H−/Normal) | The number of molecules (TN/Normal) | The number of molecules (TN/EP + H-) |
|---|
All | Significant higher | Significant lower | All | Significant higher | Significant lower | All | Significant higher | Significant lower | All | Significant higher | Significant lower |
|---|
PC | 84 (4) | 78 | 4 | 84 (1) | 72 | 1 | 84 (1) | 74 | 0 | 84 (2) | 34 | 0 |
LPC | 43 (36) | 31 | 2 | 43 (33) | 26 | 4 | 43 (15) | 24 | 0 | 43 (19) | 1 | 0 |
PE | 73 (17) | 68 | 2 | 73 (13) | 69 | 0 | 73 (11) | 62 | 0 | 73 (3) | 18 | 1 |
LPE | 22 (13) | 19 | 0 | 22 (7) | 13 | 0 | 22 (11) | 12 | 0 | 22 (15) | 0 | 1 |
- Table 3 shows comparisons of the levels of the PC, LPC, PE, and LPE detected using LC/MS between the breast cancer tissue samples and the corresponding normal breast tissue samples, between the EP + H- tumors and the corresponding normal breast tissue samples, between the TN tumors and the corresponding normal breast tissue samples, and between the TN tumors and the EP + H- tumors. The numbers in parentheses indicate the numbers of PC, LPC, PE, and LPE that were not detected in the paired samples. Significant higher are indicated as follows: tumor > normal, EP + H- > normal, TN > normal, TN > EP + H-, and significant lower are shown as follows: tumor < normal, EP + H- < normal, TN < normal, TN < EP + H- (p < 0.05 in both cases). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for comparisons of PC, LPC, PE, and LPE levels between the pairs of breast cancer tissue samples and normal breast tissue samples, and the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for comparisons involving the metabolites that were not detected in the paired samples
