Metabolomics insights into doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil combination therapy in triple-negative breast cancer: a xenograft mouse model study

FIGURE 1. Tumor growth dynamics across different treatment groups over the 14-day study period. (A) Tumor volume measurements (mean ± standard deviation) at Days 1, 5, and 10 for Group 1 (DOX, red), Group 2 (5FU, blue), Group 3 (DOX + 5FU, green), and Group 4 (Positive Control, purple). Statistical significance is indicated by * (p-value < 0.05), while “ns” denotes no significant difference. (B) Tumor growth curve depicting the changes in tumor volume (mean ± standard deviation) for all groups throughout the treatment period. The positive control group exhibits continuous tumor growth, while treatment groups show restricted growth, with the combination therapy demonstrating the most pronounced effect.

FIGURE 2. Multivariate analysis and metabolite comparisons across treatment groups. (A) sPLS-DA scores plot for plasma metabolomics data showing separation of treatment groups along Component 1 (20.4%) and Component 2 (9.2%). Distinct clustering of the DOX, 5FU, and DOX + 5FU groups is observed, with partial overlaps suggesting shared metabolic responses. (B) sPLS-DA scores plot for tumor metabolomics data showing group separation along Component 1 (15.7%) and Component 2 (9.8%). The DOX + 5FU group forms a distinct cluster, reflecting unique metabolic alterations induced by the combination treatment. (C) Histogram of significantly altered plasma metabolites for each treatment group (DOX, 5FU, and DOX + 5FU), with p-values indicating statistical significance. (D) Histogram of significantly altered tumor metabolites for DOX and DOX + 5FU treatments, highlighting key metabolic changes unique to each treatment.

FIGURE 3. Enrichment Analysis of DOX + 5 FU and positive control of plasma metabolites (left) and tumor metabolites (right).