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Plasma Lipidomics Identifies Unique Lipid Signatures and Potential Biomarkers for Patients With Aortic Dissection
Huang Huang1, Guozhu Ye2, Song-Qing Lai1
1Department of Cardiac Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
Insights
Aortic dissection (AD) involves significant plasma lipid alterations. Lysophosphatidylcholines show promise as highly accurate biomarkers for identifying AD patients, aiding diagnosis and treatment.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Metabolomics
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Aortic dissection (AD) is a life-threatening cardiovascular emergency with high mortality.
- Abnormal lipid metabolism is implicated in AD pathogenesis, but comprehensive alterations are unclear.
- There is a critical need for improved biomarkers for AD risk assessment and surveillance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate comprehensive plasma lipidomic alterations in AD patients.
- To identify novel plasma lipid biomarkers for AD.
- To explore the potential of identified lipids in AD diagnosis and risk assessment.
Main Methods:
- Untargeted lipidomics using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS).
- Analysis of plasma samples from 35 AD patients and 32 healthy controls.
- Statistical analysis to identify significantly altered lipid species and build correlation networks.
Main Results:
- 278 out of 439 identified lipid species were significantly altered in AD patients.
- Decreased levels of various lipids (e.g., fatty acids, cholesteryl esters, sphingomyelins) and accumulation of others (e.g., phosphatidylethanolamines) were observed.
- Lysophosphatidylcholines demonstrated the most significant alterations and excellent diagnostic performance (AUC 1.0, 100% accuracy).
Conclusions:
- This study reveals comprehensive plasma lipidomic signatures associated with AD.
- Lysophosphatidylcholines are identified as highly promising biomarkers for AD diagnosis.
- Findings support the utility of lipidomics in understanding AD pathogenesis and improving patient management.
Abstract:
Aortic dissection (AD) is a catastrophic cardiovascular emergency with a poor prognosis, and little preceding symptoms. Abnormal lipid metabolism is closely related to the pathogenesis of AD. However, comprehensive lipid alterations related to AD pathogenesis remain unclear. Moreover, there is an urgent need for new or better biomarkers for improved risk assessment and surveillance of AD. Therefore, an untargeted lipidomic approach based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry was employed to unveil plasma lipidomic alterations and potential biomarkers for AD patients in this study. We found that 278 of 439 identified lipid species were significantly altered in AD patients (n = 35) compared to normal controls (n = 32). Notably, most lipid species, including fatty acids, acylcarnitines, cholesteryl ester, ceramides, hexosylceramides, sphingomyelins, lysophosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylethanolamines, phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylinositols, diacylglycerols, and triacylglycerols with total acyl chain carbon number ≥54 and/or total double bond number ≥4 were decreased, whereas phosphatidylethanolamines and triacylglycerols with total double bond number <4 accumulated in AD patients. Besides, the length and unsaturation of acyl chains in triacylglycerols and unsaturation of 1-acyl chain in phosphatidylethanolamines were decreased in AD patients. Moreover, lysophosphatidylcholines were the lipids with the largest alterations, at the center of correlation networks of lipid alterations, and had excellent performances in identifying AD patients. The area under the curve of 1.0 and accuracy rate of 100% could be easily obtained by lysophosphatidylcholine (20:0/0:0) or its combination with lysophosphatidylcholine (17:0/0:0) or lysophosphatidylcholine (20:1/0:0). This study provides novel and comprehensive plasma lipidomic signatures of AD patients, identifies lysophosphatidylcholines as excellent potential biomarkers, and would be beneficial to the pathogenetic study, risk assessment and timely diagnosis and treatment of AD.
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