Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Feb 24;13(3):342.
doi: 10.3390/metabo13030342.

Diagnostic, Prognostic and Mechanistic Biomarkers of COVID-19 Identified by Mass Spectrometric Metabolomics

Mélanie Bourgin  1   2 , Sylvère Durand  1   2 , Guido Kroemer  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Diagnostic, Prognostic and Mechanistic Biomarkers of COVID-19 Identified by Mass Spectrometric Metabolomics

Mélanie Bourgin et al. Metabolites. .

Abstract

A number of studies have assessed the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity on the metabolome of exhaled air, saliva, plasma, and urine to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In spite of the richness of the literature, there is no consensus about the utility of metabolomic analyses for the management of COVID-19, calling for a critical assessment of the literature. We identified mass spectrometric metabolomic studies on specimens from SARS-CoV2-infected patients and subjected them to a cross-study comparison. We compared the clinical design, technical aspects, and statistical analyses of published studies with the purpose to identify the most relevant biomarkers. Several among the metabolites that are under- or overrepresented in the plasma from patients with COVID-19 may directly contribute to excessive inflammatory reactions and deficient immune control of SARS-CoV2, hence unraveling important mechanistic connections between whole-body metabolism and the course of the disease. Altogether, it appears that mass spectrometric approaches have a high potential for biomarker discovery, especially if they are subjected to methodological standardization.

Keywords: COVID-19; biomarkers; diagnosis; mass-spectrometry; metabolomics; prognostic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MB and SD declare no conflict of interest. GK has been holding research contracts with Daiichi Sankyo, Eleor, Kaleido, Lytix Pharma, PharmaMar, Osasuna Therapeutics, Samsara Therapeutics, Sanofi, Tollys, and Vascage. GK has been consulting for Reithera. GK is on the Board of Directors of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation France. GK is a scientific co-founder of everImmune, Osasuna Therapeutics, Samsara Therapeutics and Therafast Bio. GK is in the scientific advisory boards of Hevolution, Institut Servier and Longevity Vision Funds. GK is the inventor of patents covering therapeutic targeting of aging, cancer, cystic fibrosis and metabolic disorders. GK’s wife, Laurence Zitvogel has held research contracts with Glaxo Smyth Kline, Incyte, Lytix, Kaleido, Innovate Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Pilege, Merus, Transgene, 9 m, Tusk and Roche, was on the on the Board of Directors of Transgene, is a cofounder of everImmune, and holds patents covering the treatment of cancer and the therapeutic manipulation of the microbiota. GK’s brother, Romano Kroemer, was an employee of Sanofi and now consults for Boehringer-Ingelheim. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Metabolomics workflow to guideline towards a prognostic biomarker of COVID-19 identified by mass spectrometry metabolomics. Abbreviations: SARS-CoV-2: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanistic, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of COVID-19 disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization . WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard with Vaccination Data | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard with Vaccination Data. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2021. pp. 1–5.
    1. Ramos-Casals M., Brito-Zerón P., Mariette X. Systemic and organ-specific immune-related manifestations of COVID-19. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 2021;17:315–332. doi: 10.1038/s41584-021-00608-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allegranzi B., Tartari E., Pittet D. “Seconds save lives-clean your hands”: The 5 May 2021 World Health Organization SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign. J. Hosp. Infect. 2021;111:55. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.03.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gandhi R.T., Lynch J.B., del Rio C. Mild or Moderate COVID-19. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;383:1757–1766. doi: 10.1056/NEJMcp2009249. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Harvey W.T., Carabelli A.M., Jackson B., Gupta R.K., Thomson E.C., Harrison E.M., Ludden C., Reeve R., Rambaut A., Peacock S.J., et al. SARS-CoV-2 variants, spike mutations and immune escape. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2021;19:409–424. doi: 10.1038/s41579-021-00573-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources