Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland.
Dis Model Mech. 2012 Sep;5(5):614-20. doi: 10.1242/dmm.009845.
Primary obesity and psychotic disorders are similar with respect to the associated changes in energy balance and co-morbidities, including metabolic syndrome. Such similarities do not necessarily demonstrate causal links, but instead suggest that specific causes of and metabolic disturbances associated with obesity play a pathogenic role in the development of co-morbid disorders, potentially even before obesity develops. Metabolomics - the systematic study of metabolites, which are small molecules generated by the process of metabolism - has been important in elucidating the pathways underlying obesity-associated co-morbidities. This review covers how recent metabolomic studies have advanced biomarker discovery and the elucidation of mechanisms underlying obesity and its co-morbidities, with a specific focus on metabolic syndrome and psychotic disorders. The importance of identifying metabolic markers of disease-associated intermediate phenotypes - traits modulated but not encoded by the DNA sequence - is emphasized. Such markers would be applicable as diagnostic tools in a personalized healthcare setting and might also open up novel therapeutic avenues.
原发性肥胖症和精神障碍在能量平衡和共病方面存在相似性，包括代谢综合征。这些相似性不一定表明存在因果关系，而是表明与肥胖相关的特定原因和代谢紊乱在共病的发展中起着致病作用，甚至可能在肥胖发生之前就已经起作用。代谢组学——对代谢过程中产生的小分子代谢物的系统研究——在阐明与肥胖相关的共病的潜在途径方面发挥了重要作用。这篇综述介绍了最近的代谢组学研究如何推进与肥胖及其共病相关的生物标志物发现和机制阐明，特别关注代谢综合征和精神障碍。强调了识别与疾病相关的中间表型的代谢标志物的重要性——这些特征受 DNA 序列调节但不受其编码。此类标志物可作为个性化医疗保健环境中的诊断工具，也可能开辟新的治疗途径。
