Urinary metabolomic study of systemic lupus erythematosus based on gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with heterogeneous organ and system manifestations. In this study, urinary metabolic alterations related to SLE were investigated by performing gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) based metabolomics and multivariate statistical analysis. Patients with SLE and healthy controls could be clearly differentiated in view of the metabolic abnormity in urine. Among 70 identified endogenous metabolites, 23 metabolites were dramatically increased in SLE patients, which involved in several key metabolic pathways including energy metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, oxidative stress and gut-microbiome-derived metabolism. This noninvasive and GC/MS-based metabolomic technique is a promising and potent strategy for identifying novel biomarkers and understanding pathogenesis of SLE. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Fecal Metabolites Were Altered, Identified as Biomarkers and Correlated With Disease Activity in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in a GC-MS-Based Metabolomics Study

“…The metabolome can reflect cellular processes resulting from the genome, transcriptome, and proteome, thus reflecting physiological and pathological changes. For example, the levels of glutamate, 2-hydroxyisobutyrate and citrate in serum and valine, leucine, and 3-hydroxyisobutyrate in urine were significantly different between SLE patients and HCs (8,9). Furthermore, during the occurrence and development of diseases, an in-depth understanding of pathogenesis is very important to analyse the alterations in metabolic networks before and after stimulation or interference (such as gene mutations and environmental changes) (10).…”

Gut Microbiome and Metabolites in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Link, Mechanisms and Intervention

“…Of note, serum 2-hydroxyisobutyrate increased significantly in active patients compared with healthy individuals and inactive patients (109). Moreover, 2-hydroxyisobutyrate upregulation was also identified in the urine of SLE patients in another study published by the same group (110). As a cellular short-chain fatty acid, 2hydroxyisobutyrate is produced mainly from microbial degradation of dietary proteins, and its presence in urine has been linked with Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (111), a human Clostridia strain well known for enhancing regulatory cell functions (112).…”

Metabolic determinants of lupus pathogenesis

“…Fecal metabolomics may be important considering increasing reports of altered SLE fecal microbiomes both in patients and murine models of lupus . Pathway analyses of serum metabolite profiles also suggested an altered gut microbial metabolism in SLE patients compared to HCs, including an increase in total free fatty acids (FFAs) and short‐chain fatty acids (SCFAs) synthesized by bacteria . Additionally, disrupted metabolic pathways were found in the urine of SLE patients compared to HCs including amino acid, TCA cycle, and purine/pyrimidine metabolism …”