Abstract
Introduction
Preeclampsia represents a major public health burden worldwide, but predictive and diagnostic biomarkers are lacking. Metabolomics is emerging as a valuable approach to generating novel biomarkers whilst increasing the mechanistic understanding of this complex condition.
Objectives
To summarize the published literature on the use of metabolomics as a tool to study preeclampsia.
Methods
PubMed and Web of Science were searched for articles that performed metabolomic profiling of human biosamples using either Mass-spectrometry or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance based approaches and which included preeclampsia as a primary endpoint.
Results
Twenty-eight studies investigating the metabolome of preeclampsia in a variety of biospecimens were identified. Individual metabolite and metabolite profiles were reported to have discriminatory ability to distinguish preeclamptic from normal pregnancies, both prior to and post diagnosis. Lipids and carnitines were among the most commonly reported metabolites. Further work and validation studies are required to demonstrate the utility of such metabolites as preeclampsia biomarkers.
Conclusion
Metabolomic-based biomarkers of preeclampsia have yet to be integrated into routine clinical practice. However, metabolomic profiling is becoming increasingly popular in the study of preeclampsia and is likely to be a valuable tool to better understand the pathophysiology of this disorder and to better classify its subtypes, particularly when integrated with other omic data.
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Funding
This manuscript is supported by an R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, NHLBI 1R01HL123915-01 (JALS, STW, RSK, RTG). BC is supported by a European Respiratory Society, Fellowship LTRF 2016. NP is supported by the National Institutes of Health. KJG is supported by an NICHD postdoctoral fellowship 1 F32 HD86948-01.
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RTG, RSK, BC, NP, AW, SW, KJG and HM declare that they have no conflicts of interest. JALS is a consultant to Metabolon, Inc.
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This review was conducted in accordance with ethical standards.
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Rachel S. Kelly and Rachel T. Giorgio are co-first authors and have contributed equally to this work.
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Kelly, R.S., Giorgio, R.T., Chawes, B.L. et al. Applications of metabolomics in the study and management of preeclampsia: a review of the literature. Metabolomics 13, 86 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-017-1225-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-017-1225-8