Metabolic profiling of blood samples with non-infectious uveitis
Purpose
Metabolomics is a tool identifying biomarkers in the diagnosis of disease. We investigated the profile of the metabolomes in patients with the non-infectious uveitis to identify potential biomarkers using amino acids and fatty Acids. Also, we compared Amino Acids and Fatty Acids profiles of the four forms of uveitis [Behcet's disease (BD), sarcoidosis, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKH), and vitreoretinal lymphoma (VRL)] using the most advanced metabolomics to identify diagnostic biomarkers that are unique for each disease.
Methods
Peripheral blood was collected from 76 patients with 23 BD, 13 sarcoidosis, 23 VKH, or 13 VRL who diagnosed at Tokyo Medical University Hospital. We quantified fatty acids and amino acids using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. We applied the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Mann-Whitney‘s U test and Bonferroni correction.
Results
A total of 68 amino acids and fatty acids were identified, 15 of which showed significant differences in the Kruskal-Wallis test, and 2 (docosahexaenoic acid and palmitic acid) were specifically elevated in VRL as a result of Mann-Whitney‘s U test . All the identified 2 amino acids yielded a diagnostic ability with an AUC > 0.7 .
Conclusion
Comprehensive metabolomic analysis identified candidate blood biomarkers in the four forms of noninfectious uveitis. These results provide new insights into molecular pathogenic mechanisms and useful information for developing novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for BD, sarcoidosis, VKH and VRL.