Cord blood metabolomics reveals gestational metabolic disorder associated with anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies positivity

BACKGROUND: Thyroid disease is one of the common endocrine disorders affecting the pregnant women, in which thyroid autoimmunity can alter the progress and the outcome of pregnancy. Women with euthyroid status but anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) antibodies positivity before pregnancy are prone to subclinical gestational hypothyroidism. However, the connections between anti-TPO antibodies positivity and gestational hypothyroidism remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate the differences of fetal metabolic profile at birth according to maternal anti-TPO status. METHODS: We performed 1H-NMR metabolomics on cord blood of a nested case control cohort of 22 pregnant women with matched thyroid hormone levels and demographic data, including 11 women with euthyroid status but anti-thyroid antibodies positivity (into the anti-TPO antibodies positivity group) and 11 matched women as controls with euthyroid status and negative anti-thyroid antibodies (into the control group). RESULTS: Distinct metabolic profiles were observed between the anti-TPO antibody positivity group and the nested control group, from which a total of 10 metabolites with between-group altered abundances were structurally identified. Five out of the 10 metabolites were up-regulated in the anti-TPO antibodies positivity group, including D-Glucose, L-Glutamine, 3-Hydroxybutyric acid, Myo-Inositol, Creatinine. The other 5 metabolites were down-regulated in the anti-TPO antibodies positivity group, including L-Leucine, L-Lysine, L-Glutamic acid, L-Tyrosine, and L-Phenylalanine. All the 10 metabolites have been previously reported to be correlated with hypothyroidism. Metabolite set enrichment analysis and pathway analysis suggested that amino acid metabolism pathways (especially the phenylalanine metabolism) were associated with anti-TPO antibodies positivity. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that fetal metabolic disorder is correlated with anti-TPO antibodies positivity, representing by abundance alteration of hypothyroidism associated metabolites and the related disturbance of amino acid metabolism pathways. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-022-04564-8.