title: Urinary metabolite profiling offers potential for differentiation of liver-kidney yin deficiency and dampness-heat internal smoldering syndromes in posthepatitis B cirrhosis patients.
abstract: Zheng is the basic theory and essence of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in diagnosing diseases. However, there are no biological evidences to support TCM Zheng differentiation. In this study we elucidated the biological alteration of cirrhosis with TCM "Liver-Kidney Yin Deficiency (YX)" or "Dampness-Heat Internal Smoldering (SR)" Zheng and the potential of urine metabonomics in TCM Zheng differentiation. Differential metabolites contributing to the intergroup variation between healthy controls and liver cirrhosis patients were investigated, respectively, and mainly participated in energy metabolism, gut microbiota metabolism, oxidative stress, and bile acid metabolism. Three metabolites, aconitate, citrate, and 2-pentendioate, altered significantly in YX Zheng only, representing the abnormal energy metabolism. Contrarily, hippurate and 4-pyridinecarboxylate altered significantly in SR Zheng only, representing the abnormalities of gut microbiota metabolism. Moreover, there were significant differences between two TCM Zhengs in three metabolites, glycoursodeoxycholate, cortolone-3-glucuronide, and L-aspartyl-4-phosphate, among all differential metabolites. Metabonomic profiling, as a powerful approach, provides support to the understanding of biological mechanisms of TCM Zheng stratification. The altered urinary metabolites constitute a panel of reliable biological evidence for TCM Zheng differentiation in patients with posthepatitis B cirrhosis and may be used for the potential biomarkers of TCM Zheng stratification.
authors: E-Institute of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China ; Key Laboratory of Liver and Kidney Diseases, Ministry of Education, Institute of Liver Diseases, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Xiaoning
authors: 0000-0002-9806-9537
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
authors: Guoxiang
authors: 0000-0002-0951-4150
authors: G
authors: Xie
authors: Key Laboratory of Systems Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors: Xiaoyan
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: E-Institute of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China ; Center for Chinese Medical Therapy and Systems Biology, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Mingmei
authors: M
authors: Zhou
authors: Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100083, China ; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China.
authors: Huan
authors: H
authors: Yu
authors: E-Institute of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China ; Key Laboratory of Liver and Kidney Diseases, Ministry of Education, Institute of Liver Diseases, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Lin
authors: E-Institute of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China ; Key Laboratory of Liver and Kidney Diseases, Ministry of Education, Institute of Liver Diseases, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Guangli
authors: G
authors: Du
authors: Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100083, China.
authors: Guoan
authors: G
authors: Luo
authors: E-Institute of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China ; Key Laboratory of Liver and Kidney Diseases, Ministry of Education, Institute of Liver Diseases, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Ping
authors: 0000-0002-6152-4508
authors: P
authors: Liu