Stable Isotope Abundance and Fractionation in Human Diseases
Illa Tea,
Arnaud De Luca,
Anne-Marie Schiphorst,
Mathilde Grand,
Sophie Barillé-Nion,
Eric Mirallié,
Delphine Drui,
Michel Krempf,
Régis Hankard,
Guillaume Tcherkez
Affiliations
Illa Tea
Université de Nantes, CNRS, CEISAM UMR 6230, 44000 Nantes, France
Arnaud De Luca
Inserm UMR1069 «Nutrition, Croissance et Cancer», bât Dutrochet, 10 bd Tonnellé, CEDEX, 37032 Tours, France
Anne-Marie Schiphorst
Université de Nantes, CNRS, CEISAM UMR 6230, 44000 Nantes, France
Mathilde Grand
Université de Nantes, CNRS, CEISAM UMR 6230, 44000 Nantes, France
Sophie Barillé-Nion
Université de Nantes, Inserm UMR 1232, CRCINA, 44000 Nantes, France
Eric Mirallié
Université de Nantes, Chirurgie Cancérologie Digestive et Endocrinienne, Institut des Maladies de l’Appareil Digestif, Hôtel Dieu, CHU Nantes, Place Ricordeau, CEDEX 1, 44093 Nantes, France
Delphine Drui
Service Endocrinologie, Diabétologie, Nutrition, CHU de Nantes, Bd J. Monod. Saint Herblain, CEDEX 1, 44093 Nantes, France
Michel Krempf
Université de Nantes, Elsan Clinique Breteché, 44000 Nantes, France
Régis Hankard
Inserm UMR1069 «Nutrition, Croissance et Cancer», bât Dutrochet, 10 bd Tonnellé, CEDEX, 37032 Tours, France
Guillaume Tcherkez
Research School of Biology, ANU College of Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
The natural abundance of heavy stable isotopes (13C, 15N, 18O, etc.) is now of considerable importance in many research fields, including human physiology. In fact, it varies between tissues and metabolites due to isotope effects in biological processes, that is, isotope discriminations between heavy and light isotopic forms during enzyme or transporter activity. The metabolic deregulation associated with many diseases leads to alterations in metabolic fluxes, resulting in changes in isotope abundance that can be identified easily with current isotope ratio technologies. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on changes in natural isotope composition in samples (including various tissues, hair, plasma, saliva) found in patients compared to controls, caused by human diseases. We discuss the metabolic origin of such isotope fractionations and highlight the potential of using isotopes at natural abundance for medical diagnosis and/or prognostic.
