Objective: In the present review article we have summarized the use of the metabolomics approach to study the metabolic modifications occurring in several bio-fluids due to viral infections. The aim is to highlight the ability of metabolomics to find early fingerprints, which are related to the infections.
Methods: The (1)H-NMR, UHPLC/MS/MS(2), UPLC/ESI-SYNAPT-HDMS, UPLC-Q-TOF-HDMS analyses were used for the determination of several metabolites representative of the viral infections. The data were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and by regression techniques.
Results: The major changes were related to nucleotide, carbohydrates, lipids and amino acid metabolisms.
Conclusions: The metabolomics approach could be considered a viable option for characterization of the viral infection and for detecting on going differences in the bio-fluids composition.
Keywords: Metabolism; metabolites; metabolomics; multivariate statistical analysis; viral infection..