Translating Metabolomics to Cardiovascular Biomarkers

Metabolomics is the systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints of small molecules or metabolite profiles that are related to a variety of cellular metabolic processes in a cell, organ, or organism. Although messenger RNA gene expression data and proteomic analyses do not tell the whole story of what might be happening in a cell, metabolic profiling provides direct and indirect physiologic insights that can potentially be detectable in a wide range of biospecimens. Although not specific to cardiac conditions, translating metabolomics to cardiovascular biomarkers has followed the traditional path of biomarker discovery from identification and confirmation to clinical validation and bedside testing. With technological advances in metabolomic tools (such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry) and more sophisticated bioinformatics and analytical techniques, the ability to measure low-molecular-weight metabolites in biospecimens provides a unique insight into established and novel metabolic pathways. Systemic metabolomics may provide physiologic understanding of cardiovascular disease states beyond traditional profiling and may involve descriptions of metabolic responses of an individual or population to therapeutic interventions or environmental exposures.