Outdoor particulate matter exposure affects metabolome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Preliminary study

Tao Yu; Hanna Wu; Qingxia Huang; Fen Dong; Xuexin Li; Yushi Zhang; Ruirui Duan; Hongtao Niu; Ting Yang

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1069906

Outdoor particulate matter exposure affects metabolome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Preliminary study

Front Public Health. 2023 Mar 21:11:1069906. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1069906. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tao Yu^{1

2

3

4

5}, Hanna Wu^{1

2

3

4

6}, Qingxia Huang⁷, Fen Dong^{1

2

3

4}, Xuexin Li^{1

2

3

4

6}, Yushi Zhang^{1

2

3

4

5}, Ruirui Duan^{1

2

3

4}, Hongtao Niu^{1

2

3

4}, Ting Yang^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Center of Respiratory Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China.
² National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Beijing, China.
³ Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, Beijing, China.
⁵ Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁶ Peking University China-Japan Friendship School of Clinical Medicine, Beijing, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Human Phenome Institute, Metabonomics and Systems Biology Laboratory at Shanghai International Centre for Molecular Phenomics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Introduction: The metabolomic changes caused by airborne fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) exposure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remain unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether it is possible to predict PM_2.5-induced acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) using metabolic markers.

Methods: Thirty-eight patients with COPD diagnosed by the 2018 Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease were selected and divided into high exposure and low exposure groups. Questionnaire data, clinical data, and peripheral blood data were collected from the patients. Targeted metabolomics using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was performed on the plasma samples to investigate the metabolic differences between the two groups and its correlation with the risk of acute exacerbation.

Results: Metabolomic analysis identified 311 metabolites in the plasma of patients with COPD, among which 21 metabolites showed significant changes between the two groups, involving seven pathways, including glycerophospholipid, alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. Among the 21 metabolites, arginine and glycochenodeoxycholic acid were positively associated with AECOPD during the three months of follow-up, with an area under the curve of 72.50% and 67.14%, respectively.

Discussion: PM_2.5 exposure can lead to changes in multiple metabolic pathways that contribute to the development of AECOPD, and arginine is a bridge between PM_2.5 exposure and AECOPD.

Keywords: PM2.5; air pollution; arginine; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; metabolomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / adverse effects
Arginine / adverse effects
Humans
Metabolome
Particulate Matter / adverse effects
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive*

Substances

Particulate Matter
Air Pollutants
Arginine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC3702704), CAMS Institute of Respiratory Medicine Grant for Young Scholars (2023-ZF-14), China-Japan Friendship Hospital Crosswise Tasks (2019-2-QN-74), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81970043 and 82270038). The sponsors had no role in the design of the study, the collection and analysis of the data, or the preparation of the manuscript.