Analysis of serum metabolite profiles in syphilis patients by untargeted metabolomics

Abstract

Background Global metabolomics analysis can provide substantial information on energy metabolism, physiology, possible diagnostic biomarkers and intervention strategies for pathogens. Objective To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of syphilis and analysis of serum metabolite profiles in syphilis patients. Methods We conducted an untargeted metabolomics analysis of serum from 20 syphilis patients and 20 healthy controls. Results A total of 2890 molecular features were extracted from each sample, and the peak intensity of each feature was obtained. Distinct differential metabolites were identified by principal component analysis, partial least squares‐discriminant analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis. Furthermore, five metabolites were identified as significantly different by Student's t‐test, including trimethylamine N‐oxide, l‐arginine, lysoPC(18:0), betaine and acetylcarnitine. KEGG analysis showed that these differential metabolites were in various pathways, including Chagas disease, fatty acid biosynthesis, primary bile acid biosynthesis, Salmonella infection, ABC transporters, glycerophospholipid metabolism and choline metabolism. Among them, trimethylamine N‐oxide was 3.922 times in patients with syphilis than healthy controls. Conclusion Trimethylamine N‐oxide may be used as an indicator to distinguish between syphilis patients and healthy controls. The changes in these metabolites suggest that Treponema pallidum affects the normal metabolic activity of host cells, providing some clues for elucidating the pathogenesis of T. pallidum.

Comprehensive Analysis of Serum Metabolites Profiles in Acute Radiation Enteritis Rats by Untargeted Metabolomics

“…Among them, ABC transporters had the greatest number of overlapped compounds. ABC transporters have been identified in many metabolomics studies on different diseases (Alakwaa et al 2018;Liu et al 2019). According to the previous literature, ABCA1, a key member of ABC transporters, has point mutation R219K that participates in the mechanisms of radiation-induced dermatitis (Isomura et al 2008).…”

Possible effects of Treponema pallidum infection on human vascular endothelial cells

“…Therefore, summarizing the available evidence and the study results, 74,75 it may be reasonable to conclude that T. pallidum ‐induced vascular injury has a compound cause or possible pathway involving direct and indirect interactions. Treponema pallidum lacks a tricarboxylic acid cycle pathway and oxidative phosphorylation component compared with other bacterial pathogens, requiring it to rely on the host for survival 75,76 . The serum metabolites of syphilis patients showed that the metabolites involved fatty acid biosynthesis, bile acid biosynthesis, ABC transporter, glycerolipid metabolism, choline metabolism, etc.…”

Recombinant Treponema pallidum protein Tp0136 promotes fibroblast migration by modulating MCP‐1/CCR2 through TLR4

“…As a common sexually transmitted disease, syphilis has been a threat to human health for centuries . According to its clinical characterization, syphilis can be divided into three stages: primary syphilis, secondary syphilis and tertiary syphilis.…”

“…As a common sexually transmitted disease, syphilis has been a threat to human health for centuries. 1,2 According to its clinical characterization, syphilis can be divided into three stages: primary syphilis, secondary syphilis and tertiary syphilis. The main characteristic of primary syphilis is that the skin infection site has a typical chancre, a painless ulceration.…”