A Pilot Study on Characteristics of Metabolomics and Lipidomics according to Sasang Constitution

Abstract

Although classification of an individual's Sasang constitution is a key step in the prescription of traditional Korean medicine, the classifying process is complex and not objective. Identification of metabolic-based biomarkers could allow the development of a reliable and sensitive classification technique and even therapeutic management. Our pilot study investigated whether metabolites in plasma are characteristic of Sasang constitutions. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry-based metabolic analysis was conducted against 15 Soyangin (SY), 15 Taeeumin (TE), and 18 Soeumin (SE) individuals, as classified according to the Questionnaire for Sasang Constitution Classification II (QSCC II) and specialist diagnosis. Metabolomics data showed that the TE group was significantly separated from the SY and SE groups. Nine canonical pathways related to constitution; phenylalanine metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis were activated in the TE group as compared with the other groups. Similar to the results of the metabolomics analysis, the TE group was also significantly separated from the other two groups by lipidomic analysis. On the other hand, the intensity of lipid metabolites was higher in the SY group than in the other groups. Our findings suggest that the combined analysis of metabolomics and lipidomics can provide useful information for characteristics of Sasang constitutions.

Metabolite Markers for Characterizing Sasang Constitution Type through GC-MS and 1H NMR-Based Metabolomics Study

“…Quantitative comparisons of serum lactate, FAs, glutamate, and triglycerides among SC types are shown in Figure 1(h). These results are similar to findings of Kim et al [12], showing significantly higher levels of FAs but lower levels of glutamate in serum samples of So-Yang type than of other types. These metabolites might be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of SC type.…”

“…Since the diagnosis of SC type is determined by subjective view of Korean medicine doctor, the diagnostic process is subjective with unreliable aspects [12]. The classification of SC has been mainly done according to opinions of SCM specialists or using questionnaire sasang constitution classification (QSCC) [13, 14].…”

“…Serum and urine are useful body fluid samples that can be conveniently collected for diagnosis purpose since they contain various metabolites related to diseases [23]. Recently, Kim et al [12] have reported some biomarkers for characteristics of SC using metabolomics combined with lipidomics in a pilot study. Except for their study, no other study has used metabolites of body fluids for the classification of SC type.…”

Investigating the Biomarkers of the Sasang Constitution via Network Pharmacology Approach

“…One major advantage of the drug-centric approach is that the SC types cannot be falsely labeled. In the previous studies [8][9][10][11][12], the SC types were classified by the SCM doctors, after considering the patient's morphological and psychological traits. However, its diagnostic procedure can be biased by the doctor's subjective clinical experience, which means that the relative importance of traits contributing to SC-type diagnosis can vary from doctor to doctor.…”

“…A prerequisite step for securing scientific evidence for SCM and expanding its application in personalized medicine is to identify biomarkers of each SC type. Previous studies, employing genome-wide association study (GWAS) and metabolomics study, have revealed genetic variations and metabolite-level biomarkers in healthy people [8][9][10][11][12]. However, the diagnosis of an SC type in these studies ultimately relied on the SCM doctors or questionnaires and was thus subject to bias due to the doctor's subjective clinical experience or low sensitivity of the questionnaire [13].…”