Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology (Aug 2023)

Untargeted Plasma Lipidomics Reveal Perturbed Metabolites of Glycerophospholipids, and Sphingolipids in Moderate-to-Severe Acne

  • Zhang D,
  • Yu S,
  • Ou Yang X,
  • Wang X,
  • Zhu Y,
  • Xiao Z,
  • Tan Y,
  • Wu L,
  • Li C

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 2189 – 2200

Abstract

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Deng Zhang,1 Simin Yu,1 Xiaoliang Ou Yang,1 Xiuping Wang,1 Yunxia Zhu,1 Zhen Xiao,2 Yanping Tan,3 Liang Wu,1 Chunming Li1 1Department of Dermatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Dermatology, Taiyuan Central Hospital, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Dermatology, Jiangxi Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chunming Li, Department of Dermatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Acne vulgaris (AV) is a common inflammatory disorder involving the pilosebaceous unit. The study aimed to explore the plasma lipidome signatures and identify specific lipid biomarkers in moderate-to-severe acne patients.Patients and Methods: Untargeted plasma lipidomic analysis using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system (UHPLC) coupled to q-extraction plus was employed on 30 moderate-to-severe acne patients aged between 16– 25 years and 30 healthy controls. Multivariate data analyses were used to identify the distinguishing lipid metabolites.Results: All 1449 species of 37 lipid subclasses were identified from the MS data. There were apparent differences in plasma lipid profiles between acne groups and control groups. With variable influence on projection (VIP) > 1.0 and P-value < 0.05, 26 significantly different lipid metabolites were identified. These metabolites consisted mainly of glycerophospholipids (GPs), sphingolipids (SPs), and glycerolipids (GLs). Combining with AUC≥ 0.800 as the elected criteria, we obtained five differential lipids with good diagnostic performance for acne severity, including 2 sphingomyelins (SM), 1 phosphatidylglycerol (PG), 1 trihexosylceramide (Hex3Cer), and 1 Phosphatidylcholine (PC). Among them, PG (44:0) had the highest AUC values.Conclusion: Our study revealed the plasma lipidome signature of patients with moderate-to-severe acne. The results will provide a novel light into the perturbed lipid metabolism leading to the development of acne.Keywords: moderate-to-severe acne, lipidomics, sphingolipids, glycerophospholipids

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