Metabolomics Approaches for the Diagnosis and Understanding of Kidney Diseases

Abstract

Diseases of the kidney are difficult to diagnose and treat. This review summarises the definition, cause, epidemiology and treatment of some of these diseases including chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, acute kidney injury, kidney cancer, kidney transplantation and polycystic kidney diseases. Numerous studies have adopted a metabolomics approach to uncover new small molecule biomarkers of kidney diseases to improve specificity and sensitivity of diagnosis and to uncover biochemical mechanisms that may elucidate the cause and progression of these diseases. This work includes a description of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches, including some of the currently available tools, and emphasises findings from metabolomics studies of kidney diseases. We have included a varied selection of studies (disease, model, sample number, analytical platform) and focused on metabolites which were commonly reported as discriminating features between kidney disease and a control. These metabolites are likely to be robust indicators of kidney disease processes, and therefore potential biomarkers, warranting further investigation.

Urinary NMR Profiling in Pediatric Acute Kidney Injury—A Pilot Study

“…Previous human AKI studies resulted in the identification of a variety of potential metabolite biomarkers [14,24]. Interestingly, almost no overlap exists between the respective metabolites [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] and the metabolites identified in our study.…”

“…Several metabolomic studies investigating various renal diseases have been published in the past decade, however, metabolomics data on pediatric AKI is scarce (for an overview see [14,15,24]). In the present study, 1 H-NMR profiling was applied to urinary samples of neonatal and pediatric patients with established AKI and compared to healthy children and to hospitalized children without AKI.…”

“…Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography or liquid chromatography, together with mass spectrometry, are generally used to separate and identify metabolites. Metabolic approaches, i.e., by mass spectrometry, have been adopted to uncover new small molecule biomarkers or biochemical mechanisms as well as signaling pathways in chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, AKI, renal cancer, kidney transplantation, and polycystic kidney diseases [14,15]. These studies were performed in either rodents or humans and investigated blood, urine, or kidney tissue samples.…”

Targeting the Gut for Early Diagnosis, Prevention, and Cure of Diabetic Kidney Disease: Is the Phenyl Sulfate Story Another Step Forward?

“…Due to the limitations of urinary albumin excretion, the need for new early biomarkers in DKD led to the identification of a variety of potential early biomarkers. 5,9,19 However, some of these are only markers of risk for DKD occurrence in diabetic patients and are not involved in the causative pathway leading to kidney damage. 20 By contrast, Kikuchi et al identified PS as a marker correlated with kidney cellular and histologic damage at a very early stage, when kidney function is still normal, making it a promising candidate for the identification of diabetic patients at risk for developing DKD.…”

Nephrology: fundamental and clinical

“…В настоящее время создана база данных метаболома человека, которая включает более 100 000 метаболитов различного происхождения (ткани, биожидкости, клетки) и спектра с референсными значениями их концентраций [86,87]. Аналитическая платформа метаболических исследований -это жидкостная хроматография, масс-спектрометрия или спектроскопия ядерного магнитного резонанса (ЯМРспектроскопия) [88,89]. Смысл современной метаболомики заключается в том, что в каком бы звене цепи геном-транскриптом-протеом не произошли изменения, они не могут не сказаться на интенсивности метаболических процессов в клетке, тканях, органе, организме.…”