Department of Rheumatology Immunology and Allergy, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, 310003, People's Republic of China.
Respir Res. 2022 Jun 19;23(1):161. doi: 10.1186/s12931-022-02087-6.
Recent studies have demonstrated the important role of metabolomics in the pathogenesis of asthma. However, the role of lung metabolomics in childhood persistent wheezing (PW) or wheezing recurrence remains poorly understood.
In this prospective observational study, we performed a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based metabolomic survey on bronchoalveolar lavage samples collected from 30 children with PW and 30 age-matched infants (control group). A 2-year follow-up study on these PW children was conducted.
Children with PW showed a distinct characterization of respiratory metabolome compared with control group. Children with PW had higher abundances of choline, oleamide, nepetalactam, butyrylcarnitine, L-palmitoylcarnitine, palmitoylethanolamide, and various phosphatidylcholines. The glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway was the most relevant pathway involving in PW pathophysiologic process. Additionally, different gender, prematurity, and systemic corticoids use demonstrated a greater impact in airway metabolite compositions. Furthermore, for PW children with recurrence during the follow-up period, children who were born prematurely had an increased abundance of butyrylcarnitine relative to those who were carried to term.
This study suggests that the alterations of lung metabolites could be associated with the development of wheezing, and this early alteration could also be correlated with wheezing recurrence later in life.
最近的研究表明代谢组学在哮喘发病机制中具有重要作用。然而，肺代谢组学在儿童持续性喘息（PW）或喘息复发中的作用仍知之甚少。
在这项前瞻性观察研究中，我们对 30 名 PW 儿童和 30 名年龄匹配的婴儿（对照组）的支气管肺泡灌洗液样本进行了基于液相色谱/质谱的代谢组学调查。对这些 PW 儿童进行了为期 2 年的随访研究。
与对照组相比，PW 儿童的呼吸代谢组具有明显的特征。PW 儿童的胆碱、油酰胺、新戊内酯、丁酰肉碱、L-棕榈酰肉碱、棕榈酰乙醇酰胺和各种磷脂酰胆碱含量较高。甘油磷脂代谢途径是与 PW 病理生理过程最相关的途径。此外，不同的性别、早产和全身皮质激素的使用对气道代谢物组成有更大的影响。此外，对于随访期间复发的 PW 儿童，与足月出生的儿童相比，早产儿的丁酰肉碱含量增加。
本研究表明，肺部代谢物的改变可能与喘息的发生有关，这种早期改变也可能与日后生活中的喘息复发有关。
