Stable isotope-resolved metabolomics and applications for drug development

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Systems Biology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Metabolomics, enabled by NMR and MS, is crucial for understanding metabolism's role in diseases like cancer.
• The metabolome reflects genomic and proteomic activity, playing a key role in homeostasis and disease pathology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the application of stable isotope tracers with metabolomics for analyzing metabolic network dynamics.
• To highlight advancements in atom-resolved isotope tracing for disease research and drug development.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) for large-scale metabolome analysis.
• Employing stable isotope tracer-based metabolomic approaches to track metabolic pathways in vivo.
• Exploring metabolic tracer-based imaging technologies for visualizing metabolic processes.

Main Results:

• Atom-resolved isotope tracing via NMR and MS can identify metabolic reprogramming in diseases.
• This methodology aids in discovering novel drug targets and facilitates ADME studies.
• Metabolic tracer-based imaging offers in vivo visualization of metabolic functions.

Conclusions:

• Stable isotope-resolved metabolomics revolutionizes the understanding of complex human diseases and clinical diagnostics.
• This approach is vital for developing individualized therapeutics and predicting drug responses.
• Further development in biochemoinformatics is essential for clinical translation.