Distinct changes in serum metabolites and lipid species in the onset and progression of NAFLD in Obese Chinese

Jiarui Chen; Ronald Siyi Lu; Candela Diaz-Canestro; Erfei Song; Xi Jia; Yan Liu; Cunchuan Wang; Cynthia K.Y. Cheung; Gianni Panagiotou; Aimin Xu

Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal (Dec 2024)

Distinct changes in serum metabolites and lipid species in the onset and progression of NAFLD in Obese Chinese

Jiarui Chen,
Ronald Siyi Lu,
Candela Diaz-Canestro,
Erfei Song,
Xi Jia,
Yan Liu,
Cunchuan Wang,
Cynthia K.Y. Cheung,
Gianni Panagiotou,
Aimin Xu

Affiliations

Jiarui Chen: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Leibniz Insitute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Microbiome Dynamics, Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
Ronald Siyi Lu: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Candela Diaz-Canestro: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Erfei Song: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Xi Jia: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Yan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Cunchuan Wang: Department of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Cynthia K.Y. Cheung: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Gianni Panagiotou: Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Leibniz Insitute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Microbiome Dynamics, Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany; Friedrich Schiller University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Jena, Germany; Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany; Corresponding author at: Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Aimin Xu: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 23
pp. 791 – 800

Abstract

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Abstracts: Introduction: Metabolic disturbances are major contributors to the onset and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which includes a histological spectrum ranging from single steatosis (SS) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This study aimed to identify serum metabolites and lipids enriched in different histological stages of NAFLD and to explore metabolites/lipids as non-invasive biomarkers in risk prediction of NAFLD and NASH in obese Chinese. Methods: Serum samples and liver biopsies were obtained from 250 NAFLD subjects. Untargeted metabolomic and lipidomic profiling were performed using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Significantly altered metabolites and lipids were identified by MaAsLin2. Pathway enrichment was conducted with MetaboAnalyst and LIPEA. WGCNA was implemented to construct the co-expression network. Logistic regression models were developed to classify different histological stages of NAFLD. Results: A total of 263 metabolites and 550 lipid species were detected in serum samples. Differential analysis and pathway enrichment analysis revealed the progressive patterns in metabolic mechanisms during the transition from normal liver to SS and to NASH, including N-palmitoyltaurine, tridecylic acid, and branched-chain amino acid signaling pathways. The co-expression network showed a distinct correlation between different triglyceride and phosphatidylcholine species with disease severity. Multiple models classifying NAFLD versus normal liver and NASH versus SS identified important metabolic features associated with significant improvement in disease prediction compared to conventional clinical parameters. Conclusion: Different histological stages of NAFLD are enriched with distinct sets of metabolites, lipids, and metabolic pathways. Integrated algorithms highlight the important metabolic and lipidomic features for diagnosis and staging of NAFLD in obese individuals.

Published in Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

ISSN: 2001-0370 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Technology: Chemical technology: Biotechnology
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/computational-and-structural-biotechnology-journal

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