Sun PQ, Dong WM, Yuan YF, Cao Q, Chen XY, Guo LL, Jiang YY. Targeted metabolomics study of fatty-acid metabolism in lean metabolic-associated fatty liver disease patients. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(27): 3290-3303 [PMID: 39086751 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i27.3290]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yuan-Ye Jiang, Doctor, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 164 Lanxi Road, Shanghai 200062, China. yuanye1014@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Case Control Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Pei-Qi Sun, Yi-Fu Yuan, Qin Cao, Xiao-Yan Chen, Yuan-Ye Jiang, Department of Gastroenterology, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200062, China
Wen-Min Dong, Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai Pudong Hospital, Fudan University Pudong Medical Center, Shanghai 201399, China
Li-Li Guo, Central Laboratory, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
Co-first authors: Pei-Qi Sun and Wen-Min Dong.
Co-corresponding authors: Li-Li Guo and Yuan-Ye Jiang.
Author contributions: Guo LL and Jiang YY conceived and designed the study; Jiang YY supervised the work, Guo LL contributed to the writing of the revision draft, they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; Sun PQ and Dong WM performed the research, they contributed to this study equally; Sun PQ acquired patient and samples; Dong WM contributed to the writing of the manuscript; Yuan YF, Cao Q, and Chen XY analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported byShanghai Natural Science Foundation, No. 22ZR1455900; Shanghai Putuo District Health System Science and Technology Innovation Project Key Project, No. ptkwws202201; and Shanghai Putuo District Xinglin Excellent Youth Talent Training Program, No. ptxlyq2201.
Institutional review board statement: An ethics review form is available for this study (Approval No: PTEC-A-2018-49-1).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: We consent to data sharing.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Corresponding author: Yuan-Ye Jiang, Doctor, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 164 Lanxi Road, Shanghai 200062, China. yuanye1014@126.com
Received: January 22, 2024 Revised: May 9, 2024 Accepted: June 6, 2024 Published online: July 21, 2024 Processing time: 171 Days and 0.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The annual incidence of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in China has been increasing and is often overlooked owing to its insidious characteristics. Approximately 50% of the patients have a normal weight or are not obese. They are said to have lean-type MAFLD, and few studies of such patients are available. Because MAFLD is associated with abnormal lipid metabolism, lipid-targeted metabolomics was used in this study to provide experimental evidence for early diagnosis and pathogenesis.
AIM
To investigate the serum fatty-acid metabolic characteristics in lean-type MAFLD patients using targeted serum metabolomic technology.
METHODS
Between January and June 2022, serum samples were collected from MAFLD patients and healthy individuals who were treated at Shanghai Putuo District Central Hospital for serum metabolomics analysis. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis models were developed, and univariate analysis was used to screen for biomarkers of lean-type MAFLD and analyze metabolic pathways. UPLC-Q-Orbitrap/MS content determination was used to determine serum palmitic acid (PA), oleic acid (OA), linoleic acid (LA), and arachidonic acid (AA) levels in lean-type MAFLD patients.
RESULTS
Urea nitrogen and uric acid levels were higher in lean-type MAFLD patients than in healthy individuals (P < 0.05). Alanine transaminase and cholinesterase levels were higher in lean-type MAFLD patients than in healthy individuals (P < 0.01). The expression of high-density lipoprotein and apolipoprotein A-1 were lower in lean-type MAFLD patients than in healthy individuals (P < 0.05) and the expression of triglycerides and fasting blood glucose were increased (P < 0.01). A total of 65 biomarkers that affected the synthesis and metabolism of fatty acids were found with P < 0.05 and variable importance in projection > 1”. The levels of PA, OA, LA, and AA were significantly increased compared with healthy individuals.
CONCLUSION
The metabolic profiles of lean-type MAFLD patients and healthy participants differed significantly, yielding 65 identified biomarkers. PA, OA, LA, and AA exhibited the most significant changes, offering valuable clinical guidance for prevention and treatment of lean-type MAFLD.
Core Tip: This study targeted the serum metabolomics of healthy individuals and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (lean-type MAFLD), screened biomarkers and related metabolic pathways, and conducted targeted quantitative analysis of their specific biomarkers with the aim of providing experimental evidence for the early diagnosis and pathogenesis of lean-type MALFD.
