Sepsis usually leads to lethal multiorgan dysfunction including acute liver failure (ALF) and acute lung injury (ALI). This research sought to reveal the lipid alteration of anti-high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) treatment in sepsis-induced ALF and ALI by lipidomics. The cecal ligation and puncture-induced mouse model was established and the anti-HMGB1 neutralizing antibody was administrated. The histopathological characteristics and inflammatory factors were determined to assess the efficacy of the antibody. Utraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to determine lipid metabolism profiles in the liver and lung. The underlying biomarkers were identified through multivariate statistical analysis and correlation analysis with traditional physiological indicators. The pathological and biochemical results demonstrated that anti-HMGB1 neutralizing antibodies mitigated ALF and ALI in mice. Three differential metabolites in the liver and six various metabolites in the lung were significantly reversed by anti-HMGB1 treatment, mainly involved in arachidonic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism. Additionally, we investigated several traditional signaling pathways associated with HMGB1. However, the correlation between these traditional pathways and anti-HMGB1 intervention was not significant in the current study. In conclusion, our finding provided some scientific basis for targeting HMGB1 in sepsis-induced liver and lung injury. Mass spectrometry data with identifier no. MTBLS6466 have been uploaded to MetaboLights (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/metabolights/login).
Keywords: ALF; ALI; HMGB1; UPLC-Q-TOF/MS; lipidomics; sepsis.