title: Hair metabolomics: identification of fetal compromise provides proof of concept for biomarker discovery.
abstract: Analysis of the human metabolome has yielded valuable insights into health, disease and toxicity. However, the metabolic profile of complex biological fluids such as blood is highly dynamic and this has limited the discovery of robust biomarkers. Hair grows relatively slowly, and both endogenous compounds and environmental exposures are incorporated from blood into hair during growth, which reflects the average chemical composition over several months. We used hair samples to study the metabolite profiles of women with pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR) and healthy matched controls. We report the use of GC-MS metabolite profiling of hair samples for biomarker discovery. Unsupervised statistical analysis showed complete discrimination of FGR from controls based on hair composition alone. A predictive model combining 5 metabolites produced an area under the receiver-operating curve of 0.998. This is the first study of the metabolome of human hair and demonstrates that this biological material contains robust biomarkers, which may lead to the development of a sensitive diagnostic tool for FGR, and perhaps more importantly, to stable biomarkers for a range of other diseases.
authors: 1. The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand ; 2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors: Karolina
authors: K
authors: Sulek
authors: 1. The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand ; 2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors: Ting-Li
authors: TL
authors: Han
authors: 2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors: Silas Granato
authors: SG
authors: Villas-Boas
authors: 3. Departments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors: David Scott
authors: DS
authors: Wishart
authors: 4. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore ; 5. Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore.
authors: Shu-E
authors: SE
authors: Soh
authors: 6. Department of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, KK Women's and Children's' Hospital, Singapore.
authors: Kenneth
authors: K
authors: Kwek
authors: 1. The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand ; 7. Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore.
authors: Peter David
authors: PD
authors: Gluckman
authors: 7. Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore ; 8. Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore.
authors: Yap-Seng
authors: YS
authors: Chong
authors: 9. The Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors: Louise Claire
authors: LC
authors: Kenny
authors: 1. The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors: Philip Newton
authors: PN
authors: Baker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006197:Hair / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D055442:Metabolome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: GC-MS.; biomarker; fetal growth restriction; hair; metabolite profiling