Please cite this article in press as: R. Bujak, et al., Metabolomics for laboratory diagnostics, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2014.12.017 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model PBA-9855; No. of Pages 13 Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis xxx (2015) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis j o ur na l ho mepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpba Review Metabolomics for laboratory diagnostics Renata Bujak, Wiktoria Struck-Lewicka, Michał J. Markuszewski ∗ , Roman Kaliszan ∗ Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacodynamics, Medical University of Gda´ nsk, ul. Gen J. Hallera 107, Gda´ nsk 80-416, Poland a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 3 December 2014 Received in revised form 8 December 2014 Accepted 10 December 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Metabolomics Laboratory diagnostics Biological samples Biomarkers Analytical techniques a b s t r a c t Metabolomics is an emerging approach in a systems biology field. Due to continuous development in advanced analytical techniques and in bioinformatics, metabolomics has been extensively applied as a novel, holistic diagnostic tool in clinical and biomedical studies. Metabolome’s measurement, as a chemical reflection of a current phenotype of a particular biological system, is nowadays frequently implemented to understand pathophysiological processes involved in disease progression as well as to search for new diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers of various organism’s disorders. In this review, we discussed the research strategies and analytical platforms commonly applied in the metabolomics studies. The applications of the metabolomics in laboratory diagnostics in the last 5 years were also reviewed according to the type of biological sample used in the metabolome’s analysis. We also discussed some limitations and further improvements which should be considered taking in mind potential applications of metabolomic research and practice. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 2. Metabolomics: aims and research strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 3. How to measure metabolome? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4. Applications of metabolomics in laboratory diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4.1. Blood (serum/plasma) based metabolomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4.2. Metabolomics in saliva analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4.3. Urine metabolomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4.4. Metabolomics for exploring human volatilome: exhaled breath analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4.5. Tissue samples in metabolomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 Conflict of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 1. Introduction Dynamic homeostasis is a common feature of each living sys- tem. It means that particular biological organism is changing in time, when is exposed to various exogenous stimuli, such as phar- macotherapy, diet or environmental factors. Disease initiation and progression can also lead to disturbances of internal balance of ∗ Corresponding authors. Tel.: +48 58 349 14 93; fax: +58 349 19 62. E-mail addresses: markusz@gumed.edu.pl (M.J. Markuszewski), roman.kaliszan@gumed.edu.pl (R. Kaliszan). biological system and its components, such as cell, tissue, organ or whole organism. Nowadays, to understand complex, dynamic living systems, an integral, holistic approach, called systems biol- ogy (systeomics), is commonly applied [1]. Systeomics focuses on the structure and dynamics of the particular biological orga- nization levels in order to predict behavior of the living system (cell, tissue, organ, organism) based on a set of biological com- ponents and interactions between them [2]. Systeomics approach includes few crucial – “omics” sciences: genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, which aim to determine genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome, respectively. Firstly, development in genomics area led to genome sequencing of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2014.12.017 0731-7085/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.