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Metabolic characterization of hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis using NMR-based serum metabolomics

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Abstract

Introduction

Liver cirrhosis (LC) is an advanced liver disease that can develop into hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the main causes of LC. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing a new method to monitor the progression of HBV-related LC (HBV-LC).

Objectives

In this study, we attempted to examine serum metabolic changes in healthy individuals as well as patients with HBV and HBV-LC. Furthermore, potential metabolite biomarkers were identified to evaluate patients progressed from health to HBV-LC.

Methods

Metabolic profiles in the serum of healthy individuals as well as patients with HBV and HBV-LC were detected using an NMR-based metabolomic approach. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to analyze serum metabolic changes during HBV-LC progression. Moreover, potential metabolite biomarkers were explored by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Results

Serum metabolic changes were closely associated with the progression of HBV-LC, mainly involving energy metabolism, protein metabolism, lipid metabolism and microbial metabolism. Serum histidine was identified as a potential biomarker for HBV patients. Acetate, formate, pyruvate and glutamine in the serum were identified as a potential biomarker panel for patients progressed from HBV to HBV-LC. In addition, phenylalanine, unsaturated lipid, n-acetylglycoprotein and acetone in the serum could be considered as a potential common biomarkers panel for these patients.

Conclusion

NMR-based serum metabolomic approach could be a promising tool to monitor the progression of liver disease. Different metabolites may reflect different stages of liver disease.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.: 21605115, 21575105, 81573657) and the Public Welfare Technology Application Research Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No.: 2017C33066).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325035, China

    Hong Zheng, Liangcai Zhao & Hongchang Gao

  2. Lishui Central Hospital, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui, 323000, China

    Minjiang Chen, Siming Lu & Jiansong Ji

Authors
  1. Hong Zheng
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  2. Minjiang Chen
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  3. Siming Lu
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  4. Liangcai Zhao
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  5. Jiansong Ji
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  6. Hongchang Gao
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Contributions

HCG, JSJ and HZ contributed to experimental design. MJC, SML and LCZ contributed to sample collection and NMR metabolomic analysis. HZ and HCG contributed to data analysis, result interpretation and writing. All authors have read, revised and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiansong Ji or Hongchang Gao.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Lishui Central Hospital.

Informed consent

Written informed consents were obtained from all participants.

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Zheng, H., Chen, M., Lu, S. et al. Metabolic characterization of hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis using NMR-based serum metabolomics. Metabolomics 13, 121 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-017-1260-5

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