title: Serum metabolomic profiles from patients with acute kidney injury: a pilot study.
abstract: Low sensitivity of current clinical markers (serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN)) in early stages of the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) limits their utility. Rapid LC/MS-based metabolic profiling of serum demonstrated in a pilot study that metabolomics could provide novel indicators of AKI. Metabolic profiles of serum samples from seventeen hospitalized patients with newly diagnosed AKI were compared with the profiles of serum from age-matched subjects with normal kidney function. Increases in acylcarnitines and amino acids (methionine, homocysteine, pyroglutamate, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), and phenylalanine) and a reduction in serum levels of arginine and several lysophosphatidyl cholines were observed in patients with AKI compared to healthy subjects. Increases in homocysteine, ADMA and pyroglutamate have been recognized as biomarkers of cardiovascular and renal disease, and acylcarnitines represent biomarkers of defective fatty acid oxidation. The results of this pilot study demonstrate the utility of metabolomics in the discovery of novel serum biomarkers that can facilitate the diagnosis and determine prognosis of AKI in hospitalized patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Systems Biology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US FDA, Jefferson, AR 72079, USA.
authors.forename: Jinchun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shannon
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Laura K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Schnackenberg
authors.forename: Nasim A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Portilla
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Beger
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002331:Carnitine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D015415:Biomarkers; C116917:acylcarnitine; D002331:Carnitine