Urine metabolomics combined with the personalized diagnosis guided by Chinese medicine reveals subtypes of pre-diabetes

Mol Biosyst. 2012 Apr;8(5):1482-91. doi: 10.1039/c2mb05445k. Epub 2012 Mar 13.

Abstract

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes continuously increases globally. A personalized strategy applied in the pre-diabetic stage is vital for diabetic prevention and management. The personalized diagnosis of Chinese Medicine (CM) may help to stratify the diabetics. Metabolomics is regarded as a potential platform to provide biomarkers for disease-subtypes. We designed an explorative study of 50 pre-diabetic males, combining GC-MS urine metabolomics with CM diagnosis in order to identify diagnostic biomarkers for pre-diabetic subtypes. Three CM physicians reached 85% diagnosis consistency resulting in the classification of 3 pre-diabetic groups. The urine metabolic patterns of groups 1 'Qi-Yin deficiency' and 2 'Qi-Yin deficiency with dampness' (subtype A) and group 3 'Qi-Yin deficiency with stagnation' (subtype B) were clearly discriminated. The majority of metabolites (51%), mainly sugars and amino acids, showed higher urine levels in subtype B compared with subtype A. This indicated more disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism and renal function in subtype B compared with subtype A. No differences were found for hematological and biochemical parameters except for levels of glucose and γ-glutamyltransferase that were significantly higher in subtype B compared with subtype A. This study proved that combining metabolomics with CM diagnosis can reveal metabolic signatures for pre-diabetic subtypes. The identified urinary metabolites may be of special clinical relevance for non-invasive screening for subtypes of pre-diabetes, which could lead to an improvement in personalized interventions for diabetics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / classification
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / diagnosis
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / urine
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional*
  • Metabolomics / methods*
  • Middle Aged
  • Precision Medicine*
  • Prediabetic State / classification
  • Prediabetic State / diagnosis*
  • Prediabetic State / urine*
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Syndrome