Using Metabolomics to Explore the Essence of Damp Heat Accumulation Syndrome of Infantile Human Cytomegalovirus Hepatitis Based on UHPLC-MS System

OBJECTIVE Using metabolomics to explore the essence of damp heat accumulation syndrome of infantile human cytomegalovirus hepatitis. METHODS 20 infantile HCMV hepatitis patients with damp heat accumulation syndrome and 20 healthy infants were recruited for investigation. Plasma and urine samples were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-linear trap quadruple/orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ/Orbitrap-MS) to determine the alterations in metabolomic profiles of this syndrome. Orthogonal partial least squares-discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to analyze the UHPLC-MS data obtained from these samples. The specificity and sensitivity of potential biomarkers were assessed according to the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS The metabolomic analysis yielded 1076 plasma compounds and 414 urine compounds. Among them， 22 plasma and 7 urine differential metabolites relating to sphingolipid， glycerophospholipid， histidine， glycerolipid， and fatty acid metabolism were identified. Sphingomyelin and triglycerides were screened as potential biomarkers and showed excellent discriminant performance. CONCLUSION This research can provide insights into the essence of HCMV hepatitis damp heat accumulation syndrome.