Metabolomics and Type 2 Diabetes: Translating Basic Research into Clinical Application

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its comorbidities have reached epidemic proportions, with more than half a billion cases expected by 2030. Metabolomics is a fairly new approach for studying metabolic changes connected to disease development and progression and for finding predictive biomarkers to enable early interventions, which are most effective against T2D and its comorbidities. In metabolomics, the abundance of a comprehensive set of small biomolecules (metabolites) is measured, thus giving insight into disease-related metabolic alterations. This review shall give an overview of basic metabolomics methods and will highlight current metabolomics research successes in the prediction and diagnosis of T2D. We summarized key metabolites changing in response to T2D. Despite large variations in predictive biomarkers, many studies have replicated elevated plasma levels of branched-chain amino acids and their derivatives, aromatic amino acids and α-hydroxybutyrate ahead of T2D manifestation. In contrast, glycine levels and lysophosphatidylcholine C18:2 are depressed in both predictive studies and with overt disease. The use of metabolomics for predicting T2D comorbidities is gaining momentum, as are our approaches for translating basic metabolomics research into clinical applications. As a result, metabolomics has the potential to enable informed decision-making in the realm of personalized medicine.

An Untargeted Metabolomics Approach to Characterize Short-Term and Long-Term Metabolic Changes after Bariatric Surgery

“…Furthermore, our metabolomics analysis demonstrates that patients having a diabetes remission after one year showed larger declines in amino acids levels of alanine, proline and leucine as well as in the glycine metabolite sarcosine and the glutaminic acid derivate pyroglutamic acid. Previous studies have demonstrated an association of increased levels of BCAA and aromatic amino acids with diabetes incidence [75]. Our study adds information to the few available human data on diabetes and associated levels of sarcosine, leucyl-proline and pyroglutamic acids.…”

Deciphering bacterial community changes in zucker diabetic fatty rats based on 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis

“…T2D comprises around 90% of people with diabetes in the world [2]. It is a worldwide concern that more than half a billion people will be affected by this disease by 2030 [3]. An investigation based on sample weighting indicated nearly 113.9 million Chinese adults suffering from diabetes and 493.4 million people with prediabetes [4].…”

Viscoelasticity as a measurement of clot structure in poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients: towards a precision and personalized medicine approach

“…The world-wide prevalence of cases of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes have been spiralling out of control, and not only in developed countries, but also in third-world countries [1–4], with more than half a billion cases expected by 2030 [5]. Co-morbidities are also a major health burden on all health systems, and include hypoglycaemia, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, cardiovascular and heart related deaths, stroke, kidney disease, eye problems and also amputations [6].…”