Metabolomic profiling of samples from pediatric patients with asthma unveils deficient nutrients in African Americans

Hui-Qi Qu; Joseph Glessner; Jingchun Qu; Steven Gilhool; Frank Mentch; Ian Campbell; Patrick Sleiman; John J Connolly; Hakon Hakonarson; IHCC consortium

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104650

Metabolomic profiling of samples from pediatric patients with asthma unveils deficient nutrients in African Americans

iScience. 2022 Jun 22;25(7):104650. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104650. eCollection 2022 Jul 15.

Authors

Hui-Qi Qu¹, Joseph Glessner^{1

2

3}, Jingchun Qu¹, Steven Gilhool¹, Frank Mentch¹, Ian Campbell^{1

3}, Patrick Sleiman^{1

2

3}, John J Connolly¹, Hakon Hakonarson^{1

2

3

4

5}; IHCC consortium

Affiliations

¹ The Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3615 Civic Center Blvd, Abramson Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, The Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
³ Division of Human Genetics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁴ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland.

Abstract

Plasma metabolomics represents a potentially powerful approach to understand the biochemical mechanisms of nutrition and metabolism in asthma. This study aims to acquire knowledge on plasma metabolites in asthma, which may provide avenues for nutrition therapy, as well as explanations for the observed effects in existing therapies. This study investigated 249 metabolites from 18 metabolite groups in a large cohort of African American population, including 602 pediatric patients with asthma and 593 controls, using a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics platform. Decreased levels of citrate, ketone bodies, and two amino acids histidine (His) and glutamine (Gln), were observed in asthma cases compared to controls. Metabolites for lipid metabolism lost significance after controlling for comorbid obesity. For the first time, this study depicts a broad panorama of lipid metabolism and nutrition in asthma. Supplementation or augmentation of nutrients that are deficient may be beneficial for asthma care.

Keywords: Ethnic issue; Metabolomics; Pediatrics; Respiratory medicine.

Grants and funding

S10 OD025188/OD/NIH HHS/United States