Metabolomics analysis of serum lipids in patients with acne vulgaris / 中国热带医学

ABSTRACT

@#Abstract Objective To analyze and compare the differences in serum lipid metabolomics between patients with moderate to severe acne and healthy controls to understand the characteristics of serum lipid metabolism in acne patients. Methods Serum samples were collected from 30 patients with moderate to severe acne and 30 healthy controls matched for age, gender and body mass index in the Department of Dermatology, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from May 2019 to Apr. 2020. Serum lipid metabolomics was analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used for multivariate statistical analysis of differentially expressed lipid metabolites. The metabolic pathways with significant differences between the two groups were screened by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. Using Mann-Whitney U test to calculate differential metabolites. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between serum PC (18 2e/20 2) concentration and acne severity. Results The PLS-DA results showed that the composition of serum lipid metabolites in acne patients was significantly separated from that in healthy controls. Of the top 30 lipid metabolites with the most significant differences, four kinds of triglycerides (TG), two kinds of diglycerides (DG), six kinds of phosphatidylcholine (PC), one kind of MePC, two kinds of sphingomyelin (SM), two kinds of phosphatidylinositol (PI), two kinds of ceramide (monohexosyl ceramide, Hex1Cer;dihexosyl ceramide, Hex2Cer), two cardiolipin (CL) were found to be increased in the acne group (P<0.05). The levels of one kind of DG, two kinds of lysophosphatidyl ethanolamines (LPE), one kind of dimethylphosphatidyl ethanolamine (dMePE), one kind of bismethyl phosphatidic acid (BisMePA), three kinds of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) and one kind of ceramide were found to be decreased in the acne group (P<0.05), and most of them belonged to phospholipid metabolites. Spearman correlation analysis showed that serum PC (182e/202) concentration was positively correlated with acne severity (r=0.456, P=0.004). KEGG enrichment function analysis revealed that the differential lipid metabolites were primarily enriched in metabolic pathways such as sphingolipid signaling pathway, cholesterol metabolism, insulin resistance, glycerophospholipid metabolism, among which the sphingolipid signaling pathway may play an important role. Conclusion There are significant differences in serum lipid metabolism between acne patients and healthy controls. Lipid metabolism disorders may be related to the pathogenesis of acne, but it’s molecular mechanism still needs further experimental exploration.