This is also nicely shown in the study presented in part III, in which lactate was found to be decreased in the preoperative metabolite profile (i.e., the metabolite profile of lung cancer), thereby indicating that the measured lactate concentration without the addition of an HSA-binding competitor rather reflects the differences in HSA concentration between the pre- and postoperative groups and that caution should be taken when describing altered metabolic pathways if no HSA-binding competitor was added to the plasma samples. This evidence concerns the gene ALB and lung cancer.