UPLC–MS for metabolomics: a giant step forward in support of pharmaceutical research

Abstract

Metabolomics is a relatively new and rapidly growing area of post-genomic biological research. As use of metabolomics technology grows throughout the spectrum of drug discovery and development, and its applications broaden, its impact is expanding dramatically. This review seeks to provide the reader with a brief history of the development of metabolomics, its significance and strategies for conducting metabolomics studies. The most widely used analytical tools for metabolomics: NMR, LC–MS and GC–MS, are discussed along with considerations for their use. Herein, we will show how metabolomics can assist in pharmaceutical research studies, such as pharmacology and toxicology, and discuss some examples of the importance of metabolomics analysis in research and development.

Development of LC‐QTOF‐MS method for human lung tissue fingerprinting. A preliminary application to nonsmall cell lung cancer

“…Metabolomics is the latest “omics” platform which potential has been shown in several fields including toxicology, pharmacology, nutrition, disease pathogenesis, discovery of metabolic pathways altered by disease or external factors, and biomarkers discovery . The potential of metabolomics in determination of metabolic signatures associated with cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and disease progression has been reviewed recently .…”

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics in health and medical science: a systematic review

“…Especially with the advent of UPLC, the separation degree, peak capacity and sensitivity have been greatly improved, and can withstand higher pressures in the range of 6000-19 000 psi. 25,26 At present, the UPLC system is the mainstream technology used in metabolomic research. Different chromatographic columns can be selected according to the polarity of the analytes.…”

Single-Cell Metabolomics by Mass Spectrometry for Drug Discovery: Moving Forward

“…Metabolomics is an emerging field with tremendous potential to improve our understanding of human health and disease, and may led to the development of personalized approaches for disease diagnosis, patient monitoring and treatment response evaluation [1]. Metabolomics has the potential to uncover phenotypic differences in a very sensitive manner and may become a powerful tool for general drug screening studies.…”

“…Currently, sorting methods do not account for these time dependent changes, to the degree that final results may well not represent the original metabolome of the sample. Thus, it should be evident that single-cell metabolomics technologies can offer significant advances, even where information exists for metabolic phenotypes of cell subpopulations [1,2].…”

“…Single-cell metabolomics analysis has the potential to help in early detection of medical conditions involving modifications in the cellular functions such as cancer genesis and progression. There is also a need to differentiate between cells with different metabolomes within the same cancer to evaluate phenotype heterogeneity, and in effect, prevent drug resistance or discover new, more effective therapeutics [1,2,6]. …”