Metabolomics-based study of potential biomarkers of sepsis

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to explore potential characteristic biomarkers in patients with sepsis. Peripheral blood specimens from sepsis patients and normal human volunteers were processed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based analysis. Outlier data were excluded by principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis using the metabolomics R software package metaX and MetaboAnalyst 5.0 (https://www.metaboanalyst.ca/home.xhtml) online analysis software, and differential metabolite counts were identified by using volcano and heatmaps. The obtained differential metabolites were combined with KEGG (Kyoto Gene and Kyoto Encyclopedia) analysis to screen out potential core differential metabolites, and ROC curves were drawn to analyze the changes in serum metabolites in sepsis patients and to explore the potential value of the metabolites in the diagnosis of sepsis patients. By metabolomic analysis, nine differential metabolites were screened for their significance in guiding the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of sepsis namely: 3-phenyl lactic acid, N-phenylacetylglutamine, phenylethylamine, traumatin, xanthine, methyl jasmonate, indole, l-tryptophan and 1107116. In this study, nine metabolites were finally screened based on metabolomic analysis and used as potential characteristic biomarkers for the diagnosis of sepsis.