Abstract: Oral cancer is the sixth common cancer in the world, and precisely distinguishing health control, benign and malignant oral tumors is important for the proper and timely selection of therapeutic treatment. In the current study, plasma, urine and saliva metabolic profiles of three groups, consisting of malignant oral tumor patients, benign oral tumor patients and healthy controls, were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Utilizing a partial least squares-discriminant analysis with orthogonal signal correction data filter, the three groups were discriminated based on their plasma, urine and saliva metabolic profiles. Nineteen differential metabolites were identified including 3 acylcarnitines and 4 lyso-phosphatidylcholines in plasma, 3 amino acids and 2 organic acids in urine, 4 organic acids and 3 other metabolites in saliva. The identified metabolites were discussed in the context of the pathways in which they are involved and their biological activities. The results indicated that benign and malignant oral tumor patients have altered energy metabolism, disordered lipolysis compared with healthy controls. Furthermore malignant oral tumor patients even present a distorted Krebs cycle and inositol metabolism.

Key words: liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, metabonomics, oral cancer, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry