Metabonomics study of intestinal transplantation using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Background: Intestinal transplantation is a potential treatment for patients with irreversible intestinal failure. However, the long-term outcome is still unsatisfactory compared with transplantation of other solid organs because of transplantation rejection. Therefore, early detection and accurate diagnosis of rejection is essential. Recently, metabonomics has become a platform for monitoring of the process of organ transplantation. Methods: The metabolite profiling in the plasma was measured by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry in a patient with intestinal transplantation and it was analyzed by principal component analysis and SIMCA-P. Results: The differences between the patient and controls were achieved in the principal component analysis score plot. The potential biomarkers of rejection, including lysophosphatidyl choline, phenylalanine and tryptophan, were identified in the transplantation patient. Conclusion: The analysis here may provide a fundamental and powerful approach to inspect the disease metabolic status and screening tool for marker candidates. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.