Metabolomic Signature Discriminates Normal Human Cornea from Keratoconus—A Pilot GC/MS Study

Abstract

The molecular etiology of keratoconus (KC), a pathological condition of the human cornea, remains unclear. The aim of this work was to perform profiling of metabolites and identification of features discriminating this pathology from the normal cornea. The combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques has been applied for profiling and identification of metabolites in corneal buttons from 6 healthy controls and 7 KC patients. An untargeted GC/MS-based approach allowed the detection of 377 compounds, including 46 identified unique metabolites, whose levels enabled the separation of compared groups of samples in unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis. There were 13 identified metabolites whose levels differentiated between groups of samples. Downregulation of several carboxylic acids, fatty acids, and steroids was observed in KC when compared to the normal cornea. Metabolic pathways associated with compounds that discriminated both groups were involved in energy production, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. An observed signature may reflect cellular processes involved in the development of KC pathology, including oxidative stress and inflammation.

Keywords

• keratoconus
• cornea
• ocular metabolomics
• GC/MS profiling