Blood-based untargeted metabolomics in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis revealed the testable therapeutic target

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-21-2022

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Abstract

Metabolic aberrations impact the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and possibly can provide clues for new treatment strategies. Using untargeted metabolomics, we measured serum metabolites from 35 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and 14 healthy age-matched controls. Of 632 known metabolites detected, 60 were significantly altered in RRMS. Bioinformatics analysis identified an altered metabotype in patients with RRMS, represented by four changed metabolic pathways of glycerophospholipid, citrate cycle, sphingolipid, and pyruvate metabolism. Interestingly, the common upstream metabolic pathway feeding these four pathways is the glycolysis pathway. Real-time bioenergetic analysis of the patient-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed enhanced glycolysis, supporting the altered metabolic state of immune cells. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice treated with the glycolytic inhibitor 2-deoxy-D-glucose ameliorated the disease progression and inhibited the disease pathology significantly by promoting the antiinflammatory phenotype of monocytes/macrophage in the central nervous system. Our study provided a proof of principle for how a blood-based metabolomic approach using patient samples could lead to the identification of a therapeutic target for developing potential therapy.

Medical Subject Headings

Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antimetabolites; Deoxyglucose; Drug Development; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental; Glycolysis; Humans; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Metabolomics; Mice; Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting

PubMed ID

35700359

Volume

119

Issue

25

First Page

2123265119

Last Page

2123265119

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