Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 54 9 2025 10 04 2005 2014 Khadijeh Saeidi Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Mehdi Hedayati Cellular and Molecular Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Molecular Biology, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Monireh Movahedi Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Maryam Sadat Daneshpour Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2024 07 30 2025 03 16 Background: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a rare neuroendocrine malignancy, accounting for 5-10% of all thyroid cancer cases. The precise molecular processes driving MTC remain largely elusive. We aimed to conduct a pilot study analyzing plasma metabolic profiles of MTC patients to uncover disruptions in metabolic pathways that may contribute to MTC tumorigenesis. Methods: Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy was performed to screen metabolic changes in plasma samples from MTC patients (n=16) and healthy subjects (n=12). Multivariate and univariate analyses were applied using MetaboAnalyst and SIMCA software. Results: A total of 30 compounds were identified, of which three metabolites—glycerol, isobutyric acid, and valine—showed significant differences between MTC patients and the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of MTC metabolism and suggest that the NMR-based metabolomics approach can provide a metabolic pattern of MTC, potentially improving diagnostic procedures. https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/36196 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/36196/8656