Applications of Metabolomics in Forensic Toxicology and Forensic Medicine

Szeremeta, Michał; Pietrowska, Karolina; Niemcunowicz‐Janica, Anna; Krętowski, Adam; Ciborowski, Michał

doi:10.3390/ijms22063010

Cited by 53 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 96 publications

(115 reference statements)

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“…Recent pioneering works regarding the consideration of mi-RNAs [135] or the entity of metabolites (metabolome) [136,137] to prove lethal TBIs in a forensic setting should be further explored. Using a combination of six different mi-RNAs, it was possible to discriminate TBI cases from controls that were free of neurological symptoms [135].…”

Section: The Present and Future Of Post-mortem Tbi-related Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury

et al. 2022

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and its accurate diagnosis is an important concern of daily forensic practice. However, it can be challenging to diagnose TBI in cases where macroscopic signs of the traumatic head impact are lacking and little is known about the circumstances of death. In recent years, several post-mortem studies investigated the possible use of biomarkers for providing objective evidence for TBIs as the cause of death or to estimate the survival time and time since death of the deceased. This work systematically reviewed the available scientific literature on TBI-related biomarkers to be used for forensic purposes. Post-mortem TBI-related biomarkers are an emerging and promising resource to provide objective evidence for cause of death determinations as well as survival time and potentially even time since death estimations. This literature review of forensically used TBI-biomarkers revealed that current markers have low specificity for TBIs and only provide limited information with regards to survival time estimations and time since death estimations. Overall, TBI fatality-related biomarkers are largely unexplored in compartments that are easily accessible during autopsies such as urine and vitreous humor. Future research on forensic biomarkers requires a strict distinction of TBI fatalities from control groups, sufficient sample sizes, combinations of currently established biomarkers, and novel approaches such as metabolomics and mi-RNAs.

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Section: The Present and Future Of Post-mortem Tbi-related Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury

et al. 2022

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“…Toxicometabolomics has grown far beyond its initial preclinical and clinical applications. A rising number of studies showed that metabolomics is a powerful tool for elucidating biochemical modes of action and toxicological effects of a wide range of toxic compounds in a variety of toxicology domains, including food safety [ 137 , 138 ], environmental toxicology [ 139 , 140 ], and forensic toxicology [ 141 , 142 ]. Metabolomics has also recently gained attention as a novel tool in regulatory toxicology [ 143 ].…”

Section: Metabolomics: a New Route In Toxicological Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxicometabolomics: Small Molecules to Answer Big Toxicological Questions

et al. 2021

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Given the high biological impact of classical and emerging toxicants, a sensitive and comprehensive assessment of the hazards and risks of these substances to organisms is urgently needed. In this sense, toxicometabolomics emerged as a new and growing field in life sciences, which use metabolomics to provide new sets of susceptibility, exposure, and/or effects biomarkers; and to characterize in detail the metabolic responses and altered biological pathways that various stressful stimuli cause in many organisms. The present review focuses on the analytical platforms and the typical workflow employed in toxicometabolomic studies, and gives an overview of recent exploratory research that applied metabolomics in various areas of toxicology.

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“…Quantitative measurement of circulating small-molecule metabolites that may participate in disease pathogenesis [ 34 ] may improve diagnosis, unravel appropriate therapeutic targets, and enable a more precise prognosis of disease outcome [ 35 ]. Metabolomics studies have successfully identified biomarkers for diagnosis, progression, and treatment response for age-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. A recent study has reported the presence of an abundant amount of coagulation-related protein Kininogen-1 in EVs, such as exosomes isolated from COVID-19 patients, and suggested that exosomes may act as a reserve of Kininogen-1 [ 40 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untargeted Metabolic Profiling of Extracellular Vesicles of SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients Shows Presence of Potent Anti-Inflammatory Metabolites

Alzahrani

Mohammed

Alkarim

et al. 2021

IJMS

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry important biomolecules, including metabolites, and contribute to the spread and pathogenesis of some viruses. However, to date, limited data are available on EV metabolite content that might play a crucial role during infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therefore, this study aimed to perform untargeted metabolomics to identify key metabolites and associated pathways that are present in EVs, isolated from the serum of COVID-19 patients. The results showed the presence of antivirals and antibiotics such as Foscarnet, Indinavir, and lymecycline in EVs from patients treated with these drugs. Moreover, increased levels of anti-inflammatory metabolites such as LysoPS, 7-α,25-Dihydroxycholesterol, and 15-d-PGJ2 were detected in EVs from COVID-19 patients when compared with controls. Further, we found decreased levels of metabolites associated with coagulation, such as thromboxane and elaidic acid, in EVs from COVID-19 patients. These findings suggest that EVs not only carry active drug molecules but also anti-inflammatory metabolites, clearly suggesting that exosomes might play a crucial role in negotiating with heightened inflammation during COVID-19 infection. These preliminary results could also pave the way for the identification of novel metabolites that might act as critical regulators of inflammatory pathways during viral infections.

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Applications of Metabolomics in Forensic Toxicology and Forensic Medicine

Cited by 53 publications

References 96 publications

Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury

Forensic biomarkers of lethal traumatic brain injury

Toxicometabolomics: Small Molecules to Answer Big Toxicological Questions

Untargeted Metabolic Profiling of Extracellular Vesicles of SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients Shows Presence of Potent Anti-Inflammatory Metabolites

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