Exploration of Lipid Metabolism Alterations in Children with Active Tuberculosis Using UHPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

Metabolic profiling using nonsputum samples has demonstrated excellent performance in diagnosing infectious diseases. But little is known about the lipid metabolism alternation in children with tuberculosis (TB). Therefore, the study was performed to explore lipid metabolic changes caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and identify specific lipids as diagnostic biomarkers in children with TB using UHPLC-MS/MS. Plasma samples obtained from 70 active TB children, 21 non-TB infectious disease children, and 21 healthy controls were analyzed by a partial least-squares discriminant analysis model in the training set, and 12 metabolites were identified that can separate children with TB from non-TB controls. In the independent testing cohort with 49 subjects, three of the markers, PC (15:0/17:1), PC (17:1/18:2), and PE (18:1/20:3), presented with high diagnostic values. The areas under the curve of the three metabolites were 0.904, 0.833, and 0.895, respectively. The levels of the altered lipid metabolites were found to be associated with the severity of the TB disease. Taken together, plasma lipid metabolites are potentially useful for diagnosis of active TB in children and would provide insights into the pathogenesis of the disease.

Browning of Mammary Fat Suppresses Pubertal Mammary Gland Development of Mice via Elevation of Serum Phosphatidylcholine and Inhibition of PI3K/Akt Pathway

“…PC, the major phospholipid component of eukaryotic membranes, as well as choline metabolites derived from its synthesis and catabolism, are critically involved in multiple biological processes such as cell proliferation, survival, and metabolism [30]. It has been demonstrated that the proportion of sn-2-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylcholine (20:4-PC) increases significantly during the G1 phase of the cell cycle [31,32]. Moreover, PC also contributes to the transformation of brown-like adipocytes [33], which supported our results that the PC was up-regulated with the browning of mammary fat along with an increase in the BAT index in the CL316243 group.…”

Advances in Mass Spectrometry-Based Blood Metabolomics Profiling for Non-Cancer Diseases: A Comprehensive Review

“…In osteoarticular tuberculosis, lipid metabolites were found to be a significant category of biomarkers [ 158 ]. Lipid metabolites, particularly glycerophospholipids, feature prominently in biomarkers associated with tuberculosis progression [ 79 , 159 ]. The absence of standardized laboratory criteria for cured tuberculosis often results in the early discharge of patients who still have a spreading bacterial infection.…”