Metabolomics for biomarker discovery in systemic lupus erythematosus

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24591445
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 膠原病・アレルギー・感染症内科学
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: SAEGUSA Jun 神戸大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (20514970)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MORINOBU Akio 神戸大学, 大学院医学研究科, 准教授 (10294216) ; KAWANO Seiji 神戸大学, 医学部附属病院, 特命准教授 (20351512)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: メタボローム解析 / 全身性エリテマトーデス / バイオマーカー / ガスクロマトグラフィー質量分析計 / グルタミン酸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Metabolomics is the identification and quantification of the metabolome, all the low-molecular-weight metabolites in a biological sample. We examined the differences in the serum metabolome between patients with SLE and healthy subjects, using GC/MS. The levels of 25 metabolites were significantly different in SLE patients compared to healthy controls. The two-dimensional plot of the principal component analysis scores showed distinct clustering for the two subject groups. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that variations in the levels of glutamic acid, urea, tyrosine, phosphate and glycerol greatly contributed to the observed separation of the metabolomics profiles of the SLE patients and healthy controls. The serum levels of glutamic acid were significantly correlated with the SLE disease activity index score in the patient group. These findings suggest that GC/MS-based serum metabolomics can serve as a novel diagnostic and monitoring tool for autoimmune diseases.

Free Research Field

臨床免疫学