Disease and Medication Context Shape Ex Vivo Metabolite Stability: A Pilot Study in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background/Objectives: Pre-analytical variation is a major challenge in metabolomics, yet most stability studies have focused on healthy volunteers and have overlooked the impact of disease and medication. To address this gap, we conducted a pilot study in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to assess serum metabolite stability under delayed centrifugation. Methods: Peripheral blood from 10 SLE patients and 5 healthy controls (HC) was stored at room temperature for 1-24 h before processing and analyzed by untargeted LC-MS-based metabolomics. This design enabled direct evaluation of the effect of pre-analytical delay within the context of clinical heterogeneity. Results: Principal component trajectories showed reproducible temporal shifts in HC but dispersed patterns in SLE, indicating disease- and treatment-related influences. Linear mixed-effects models identified metabolites with condition-specific kinetics, including glucose, choline, glycerophosphocholine, and pyroglutamic acid. Mycophenolate intake was further associated with distinct AMP dynamics. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that both disease state and medication reshape apparent metabolite stability, highlighting the need for strictly controlled sample handling and well-characterized clinical cohorts in metabolomics studies.