Serum metabolite profiles of thyroid autoimmunity patients in early pregnancy

• Published in: PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2024-11, Vol.12, p.e18534, Article e18534
• Main Authors: Chen, Zhaoying, Lin, Zhenyu, Gao, Yiyang, Jin, Xiaohui, Chen, Kan, Zhang, Chenxi, Shan, Zhongyan, Teng, Weiping, Li, Jing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aconitic acid; Adult; Anemia; Arginine; Autoantibodies; Autoimmunity; Biomarkers; Birth weight; Body mass index; Case-Control Studies; Chromatography, Liquid; Chronic illnesses; Correlation analysis; D-Erythrose 4-phosphate; Diabetes; Esters; Fatty acids; Female; Gas flow; Gestational age; Humans; Infant, Newborn; International economic relations; Lecithin; Mass spectrometry; Metabolism; Metabolites; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Monosaccharides; Multiple sclerosis; Neonates; Phosphates; Phosphatidylcholine; Physiological aspects; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - blood; Pregnancy Complications - immunology; Pregnancy Complications - metabolism; Pregnant women; Propionic acid; Scientific equipment and supplies industry; Scientific imaging; Serum; Sphingomyelin; Sugars; Taurine; Thyroid; Thyroid disease; Thyroid gland; Tricarboxylic acid cycle; Uric acid; Womens health
• ISSN: 2167-8359; 2167-8359
• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.18534

Research on serum metabolite profiles in thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) patients during early pregnancy is currently limited. The current study aimed to identify differential serum metabolites and assess the relationship between pregnancy outcomes and metabolic abnormalities in individuals with TAI. This research included 26 pregnant women with TAI and 30 healthy controls (HC). We employed a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS) to analyze changes between the two groups. Newborns in the TAI patients had lower birth weights than those in the control group ( = 0.007). We identified 92 differential metabolites (including 50 upregulated and 42 downregulated) belonging to amino acids, fatty acyls, glycerophosphocholines, steroid and other categories and four significantly enrichment Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways including taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, citrate cycle (TCA cycle), glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism and 2-oxocarboxylic acid metabolism. We further identified 15 characteristic metabolites (6-Methylquinoline, D-erythrose 4-phosphate, 4-Hydroxyisoleucine, phosphatidylcholine (PC)(16:2e/16:0), N3,N4-Dimethyl-L-arginine, N-desmethyltramadol, 3-Methoxybenzaldehyde, sphingomyelin (SM)(d14:3/28:2), gamma-Glutamylleucine, NSI-189, 3-(1-cyano-1,2-dihydroisoquinolin-2-yl)-3-oxopropyl propionate, lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI) 16:0, cis-Aconitic acid, polyamide (PA)(18:1/18:2) and fatty acyl esters of hydroxy fatty acid (FAHFA)(17:0/18:0)) using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. Correlation analyses revealed that 6-Methylquinoline, D-erythrose 4-phosphate, gamma-Glutamylleucine, and LPI 16:0 exhibited a positive correlation with anemia before delivery, while 3-(1-cyano-1,2-dihydroisoquinolin-2-yl)-3-oxopropyl propionate had a negative correlation. LPI 16:0 displayed a positive correlation with uric acid (UA) during both middle and late pregnancy, whereas 3-Methoxybenzaldehyde exhibited a negative correlation with UA in late pregnancy. Cis-Aconitic acid showed a positive correlation with fasting blood glucose (FBG) in middle pregnancy. Conversely, 6-Methylquinoline and 4-Hydroxyisoleucine had a negative correlation with birth weight. Thyroid autoantibodies were found to be associated with 14 metabolites identified using LASSO, with the exception of PA (18:1/18:2). Our findings provide new evidence supporting the early screening of serum metabolites and their potential for predicting adve