title: Metabolomics for Biomarker Discovery: Moving to the Clinic.
abstract: To improve the clinical course of diseases, more accurate diagnostic and assessment methods are required as early as possible. In order to achieve this, metabolomics offers new opportunities for biomarker discovery in complex diseases and may provide pathological understanding of diseases beyond traditional technologies. It is the systematic analysis of low-molecular-weight metabolites in biological samples and has become an important tool in clinical research and the diagnosis of human disease and has been applied to discovery and identification of the perturbed pathways. It provides a powerful approach to discover biomarkers in biological systems and offers a holistic approach with the promise to clinically enhance diagnostics. When carried out properly, it could provide insight into the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of diseases, help to identify patients at risk of disease, and predict the response to specific treatments. Currently, metabolomics has become an important tool in clinical research and the diagnosis of human disease and becomes a hot topic. This review will highlight the importance and benefit of metabolomics for identifying biomarkers that accurately screen potential biomarkers of diseases.
authors.affiliation: National TCM Key Lab of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Laboratory of Metabolomics and Chinmedomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Heping Road 24, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National TCM Key Lab of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Laboratory of Metabolomics and Chinmedomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Heping Road 24, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: National TCM Key Lab of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Laboratory of Metabolomics and Chinmedomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Heping Road 24, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Guangli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: National TCM Key Lab of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Laboratory of Metabolomics and Chinmedomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Heping Road 24, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National TCM Key Lab of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Laboratory of Metabolomics and Chinmedomics, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Heping Road 24, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Xijun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D035843:Biomedical Research; D006801:Humans; D055432:Metabolomics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers