Systems Biology ARDS Research with a Focus on Metabolomics

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a clinical syndrome that inflicts a considerably heavy toll in terms of morbidity and mortality. While there are multitudes of conditions that can lead to ARDS, the vast majority of ARDS cases are caused by a relatively small number of diseases, especially sepsis and pneumonia. Currently, there is no clinically agreed upon reliable diagnostic test for ARDS, and the detection or diagnosis of ARDS is based on a constellation of laboratory and radiological tests in the absence of evidence of left ventricular dysfunction, as specified by the Berlin definition of ARDS. Virtually all the ARDS biomarkers to date have been proven to be of very limited clinical utility. Given the heterogeneity of ARDS due to the wide variation in etiology, clinical and molecular manifestations, there is a current scientific consensus agreement that ARDS is not just a single entity but rather a spectrum of conditions that need further study for proper classification, the identification of reliable biomarkers and the adequate institution of therapeutic targets. This scoping review aims to elucidate ARDS omics research, focusing on metabolomics and how metabolomics can boost the study of ARDS biomarkers and help to facilitate the identification of ARDS subpopulations.