Disturbance in Plasma Metabolic Profile in Different Types of Human Cytomegalovirus-Induced Liver Injury in Infants

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in infants is a global problem and the liver is a target organ of HCMV invasion. However, the mechanism by which HCMV causes different types of liver injury is unclear, and there are many difficulties in the differential diagnosis of HCMV infantile cholestatic hepatopathy (ICH) and extrahepatic biliary atresia (EHBA). We established a non-targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics method in conjunction with orthogonal partial least squares-discriminate analysis based on 127 plasma samples from healthy controls, and patients with HCMV infantile hepatitis, HCMV ICH, and HCMV EHBA to explore the metabolite profile of different types of HCMV-induced liver injury. Twenty-nine metabolites related to multiple amino acid metabolism disorder, nitrogen metabolism and energy metabolism were identified. Carbamic acid, glutamate, L-aspartic acid, L-homoserine, and noradrenaline for HCMV ICH vs. HCMV EHBA were screened as potential biomarkers and showed excellent discriminant performance. These results not only revealed the potential pathogenesis of HCMV-induced liver injury, but also provided a feasible diagnostic tool for distinguishing EHBA from ICH.