title: Potential Metabolic Biomarkers to Identify Interstitial Lung Abnormalities.
abstract: Determining sensitive biomarkers in the peripheral blood to identify interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs) is essential for the simple early diagnosis of ILAs. This study aimed to determine serum metabolic biomarkers of ILAs and the corresponding pathogenesis. Three groups of subjects undergoing health screening, including healthy subjects, subjects with ILAs, and subjects who were healthy initially and with ILAs one year later (Healthy→ILAs), were recruited for this study. The metabolic profiles of all of the subjects' serum were analyzed by liquid chromatography quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The metabolic characteristics of the ILAs subjects were discovered, and the corresponding biomarkers were predicted. The metabolomic data from the Healthy→ILAs subjects were collected for further verification. The results indicated that five serum metabolite alterations (up-regulated phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidic acid, betaine aldehyde and phosphatidylethanolamine, as well as down-regulated 1-acylglycerophosphocholine) were sensitive and reliable biomarkers for identifying ILAs. Perturbation of the corresponding biological pathways (RhoA signaling, mTOR/P70S6K signaling and phospholipase C signaling) might be at least partially responsible for the pathogenesis of ILAs. This study may provide a good template for determining the early diagnostic markers of subclinical disease status and for obtaining a better understanding of their pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. tcmtanyong@126.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Traditional Chinese Medicine Division, Science Press, Beijing 100717, China. jdm3213@163.com.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China. linzhang19890211@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. boris.g.guo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Baosheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. hebinghb@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. cheng0816@163.com.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China. xc2002812@126.com.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. liuzhongdi1980@sina.com.
authors.forename: Zhongdi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. zhaon2003@163.com.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. bzxiang@hkbu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Zhaoxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. zhangge@hkbu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China. wdzhangy@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China. liuxinru@hotmail.co.uk.
authors.forename: Xinru
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. aipinglu@hkbu.edu.hk.|Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone &amp; Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China. aipinglu@hkbu.edu.hk.|E-Institutes of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Shanghai 201203, China. aipinglu@hkbu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Aiping
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: biomarkers; interstitial lung abnormalities; serum metabolic profiles