Metabolomic Dataset - EAR study

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide, and early detection is crucial for effective treatment and management. Metabolomics, the study of small molecules in biological systems, has the potential to provide important insights into the early diagnosis and treatment of RA. One promising area of metabolomics research in RA is the identification of early biomarkers. By analyzing metabolic changes that occur in the serum of RA patients naïve to treatment we have identified a panel of 3 metabolites: glyceric acid, lactic acid, and 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid as the best metabolite combination for early RA diagnosis (ERA) identifying patients with 96.7% of certainty outperforming the classical anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide marker by 2.9% and the C-reactive protein inflammatory marker by 15.4%. This early detection could allow for early intervention and treatment, potentially preventing the progression of the disease. Additionally, the deregulated metabolites have been associated with alterations in pathways related to amino acid metabolism such as aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and the metabolism of serine, glycine, and phenylalanine that can be used to identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention.类风湿关节炎（Rheumatoid arthritis, RA）是一种慢性自身免疫性疾病，全球数百万人群受其累及，早期检测对于实现规范治疗与病情管理至关重要。代谢组学（metabolomics）作为对生物系统内小分子的研究学科，有望为类风湿关节炎的早期诊断与治疗提供关键见解。类风湿关节炎代谢组学研究中颇具前景的方向之一，便是早期生物标志物的筛选。本研究通过分析未经治疗的类风湿关节炎患者血清中的代谢变化，筛选出由甘油酸、乳酸及3-羟基异戊酸组成的代谢物组合，作为早期类风湿关节炎（early RA, ERA）诊断的最优标志物组合；该组合的确诊准确率可达96.7%，其诊断性能较经典的抗环瓜氨酸肽（anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide）标志物提升2.9%，较C反应蛋白（C-reactive protein）炎性标志物提升15.4%。此类早期检测可实现早期干预与治疗，有望阻断疾病进展。此外，本次鉴定出的代谢失调物与氨基酸代谢相关通路的改变密切相关，包括氨酰-tRNA生物合成以及丝氨酸、甘氨酸与苯丙氨酸的代谢通路，上述通路可作为潜在的治疗干预靶点。