Observational Study
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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2022; 28(39): 5764-5783
Published online Oct 21, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i39.5764
Serum metabolic profiling of targeted bile acids reveals potentially novel biomarkers for primary biliary cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis
Zhen-Hua Ma, Xiao-Mei Wang, Rui-Hong Wu, Da-Lin Hao, Li-Chao Sun, Pan Li, Jun-Qi Niu
Zhen-Hua Ma, Da-Lin Hao, Li-Chao Sun, Department of Infection and Hepatology, The Affiliated Hospital of Beihua University, Jilin 132011, Jilin Province, China
Xiao-Mei Wang, Rui-Hong Wu, Jun-Qi Niu, Department of Hepatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China
Pan Li, Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Beihua University, Jilin 132011, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Niu JQ contributed to conception and design of the research, review and editing; Ma ZH, Sun LC, and Li P contributed to investigation and wrote the manuscript; Ma ZH, Wang XM, and Wu RH contributed to acquisition of data and statistical analysis; Hao DL contributed to funding acquisition; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by Health and Family Planning Commission Project of Jilin Province, No. 2016Q043; and Health and Hygiene Committee Project of Jilin Province, No. 2021LC082.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was carefully reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Affiliated Hospital of the Medical School of Jilin University, No. 2009-017.
Informed consent statement: All the eligible patients and HCs signed the written informed consent form prior to enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun-Qi Niu, MMed, Professor, Department of Hepatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 1 Xinmin Dajie, Chaoyang District, Changchun 130061, Jilin Province, China. junqiniu@jlu.edu.cn
Received: June 28, 2022
Peer-review started: June 28, 2022
First decision: August 19, 2022
Revised: September 7, 2022
Accepted: September 23, 2022
Article in press: September 23, 2022
Published online: October 21, 2022
Processing time: 112 Days and 2.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) are two unexplained immune diseases. It is difficult to identify and Liver biopsy should be done.

Research motivation

Avoid liver perforation and relieve the pain of patient, to improve the diagnostic rate of PBC and AIH.

Research objectives

To determine non-invasive, reliable, and sensitive biochemical markers for the differential diagnosis of PBC and AIH.

Research methods

Metabolomics technologies, including full-contour metabolomics and target.

Research results

We revealed the increased levels of chenodeoxycholic acid, lithocholic acid (LCA), taurolithocholic acid (TLCA), and LCA + TLCA in the PBC group compared with those in the AIH group. The levels of glycochenodeoxycholic acid, glycochenodeoxycholic sulfate, and taurodeoxycholic acid were gradually elevated with the increase of Child-Pugh class, which was correlated with the severity of disease.

Research conclusions

The levels of bile acids could serve as potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis and assessment of the severity of PBC and AIH.

Research perspectives

It is necessary to further expand the sample size for research and search for the mechanism for the changes.