Study of the metabolomics characteristics of patients with metabolic syndrome based on liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Background. - Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a disease with complex pathophysiology and pathogenesis involving multiple systems of the human body. This study aimed to identify serum metabolites that are relevant to MS. Material and methods. - This study involved 40 patients with MS and 28 healthy adults, and the following data were statistically analyzed: basic clinical data, blood lipids, fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, waist circumference, and visceral fat coefficient. Serum samples from both groups were collected and analyzed by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF/MS); multivariate and univariate statistical methods were used to identify potential MS biomarkers and MS-related metabolic pathways. In addition, leucine and valine levels in serum from MS patients and normal subjects were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Results. - In this study, 23 potential biomarkers were identified in the plasma of MS patients. These biomarkers were mainly related to metabolism; the tricarboxylic acid cycle; galactose metabolism; arachidonic acid metabolism; valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation; and valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis. ELISAs were utilized to verify serum leucine and valine levels, and the results supported the experimental metabolomics results. Conclusions. - In total, 23 MS-related metabolites were identified in the serum; these differential metabolites were mainly associated with lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, glucose metabolism, purine metabolism, and other related metabolic pathways. This study shows that LC/MS-based metabolomics methods can be used to investigate the pathological changes in MS patients and identify biomarkers for the early diagnosis of MS. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.