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Discovery of potential biomarkers in acute kidney injury by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF–MS)

  • Nephrology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Objective

The LC–MS/MS-based non-targeted metabolomics method was used to differentially screen serum and urine metabolites of acute kidney injury (AKI) patients and healthy people, to explore potential biomarkers of AKI and analyze related pathways, and explain the potential mechanism and biological significance of AKI.

Methods

The serum and urine samples from 30 AKI patients and 20 healthy people were selected to conduct a non-targeted metabolomics study by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF–MS). The differential metabolites between the two groups were searched by the human metabolome (HMDB) database (https://hmdb.ca/) and the related pathways of these potential biomarkers were identified by searching the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) database (https://www.kegg.jp/). The total metabolic pathways were analyzed by the MS Peaks to Pathways module of MetaboAnalyst (https://www.metaboanalyst.ca/).

Results

Multivariate data analysis found that serum and urine metabolism in AKI patients was significantly different from healthy people. We found three metabolites in urine (2-S-glutathionyl glutathione acetate, 5-l-Glutamyl-taurine, and l-Phosphoarginine) contributing to the separation of AKI patients from healthy people, and major metabolic pathways associated with these potential biomarkers including cytochrome P450 metabolism, arginine, and proline metabolism.

Conclusion

2-S-glutathionyl glutathione acetate, 5-l-Glutamyl-taurine, and l-Phosphoarginine were associated with AKI patients, which could be selected as potential biomarkers to predicate AKI disease.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Laboratory of Tea Tree Biology and Resource Utilization of Anhui Agricultural University in 2015 Open Fund (SKLTOF20150106).

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Author notes

  1. Chaoyi Chen and Peng Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nephrology, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated With Anhui Medical University, 17 Lujiang Road, Luyang, Hefei, 230001, Anhui, China

    Chaoyi Chen, Yuan Fang & Wei Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Tea Tree Biology and Resource Utilization, Anhui Agricultural University, 130 West Changjiang Road, Shushan, Hefei, 230036, Anhui, China

    Peng Zhang & Guanhu Bao

Authors
  1. Chaoyi Chen
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  2. Peng Zhang
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  3. Guanhu Bao
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  4. Yuan Fang
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  5. Wei Chen
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Contributions

Study concept and design: CC, PZ, WC, GB. Data extraction and analysis: PZ, CC, WC, GB. Manuscript drafting: CC, PZ, YF. Manuscript revision: WC, GB, YF. Manuscript review and editing: CC, PZ, WC, GB.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Chen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee of the first affiliated hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Chen, C., Zhang, P., Bao, G. et al. Discovery of potential biomarkers in acute kidney injury by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF–MS). Int Urol Nephrol 53, 2635–2643 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-02829-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-02829-3

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