Analysis of Serum Metabolic Profile by Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography-mass Spectrometry for Biomarkers Discovery: Application in a Pilot Study to Discriminate Patients with Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic wasting inflammatory disease characterized by multisystem involvement, which can cause metabolic derangements in afflicted patients. Metabolic signatures have been exploited in the study of several diseases. However, the serum that is successfully used in TB diagnosis on the basis of metabolic profiling is not by much. METHODS: Orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis was capable of distinguishing TB patients from both healthy subjects and patients with conditions other than TB. Therefore, TB-specific metabolic profiling was established. Clusters of potential biomarkers for differentiating TB active from non-TB diseases were identified using Mann–Whitney U-test. Multiple logistic regression analysis of metabolites was calculated to determine the suitable biomarker group that allows the efficient differentiation of patients with TB active from the control subjects. RESULTS: From among 271 participants, 12 metabolites were found to contribute to the distinction between the TB active group and the control groups. These metabolites were mainly involved in the metabolic pathways of the following three biomolecules: Fatty acids, amino acids, and lipids. The receiver operating characteristic curves of 3D, 7D, and 11D-phytanic acid, behenic acid, and threoninyl-γ-glutamate exhibited excellent efficiency with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.904 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0863–0.944), 0.93 (95% CI: 0.893–0.966), and 0.964 (95% CI: 00.941–0.988), respectively. The largest and smallest resulting AUCs were 0.964 and 0.720, indicating that these biomarkers may be involved in the disease mechanisms. The combination of lysophosphatidylcholine (18:0), behenic acid, threoninyl-γ-glutamate, and presqualene diphosphate was used to represent the most suitable biomarker group for the differentiation of patients with TB active from the control subjects, with an AUC value of 0.991. CONCLUSION: The metabolic analysis results identified new serum biomarkers that can distinguish TB from non-TB diseases. The metabolomics-based analysis provides specific insights into the biology of TB and may offer new avenues for TB diagnosis.