ABSTRACT
Objective To screen potential metabolites and significantly altered metabolic pathways of liver lesions by central carbon pathway metabolites. Methods 32 healthy volunteers (HC), 23 patients with biliary cysts (CYST), 19 patients with biliary stones (Stone), 45 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and 50 patients with hilarcholangiocarcinoma (HCCA) were recruited. Their serum samples were collected for UPLC-QQQ-MS analysis and further MPP statistical analysis. Pattern recognition was further used to discovery the differences in metabolome between groups, and to explore the significantly altered metabolic pathway and possible pathogenic mechanism of liver diseases. Results A total of 15, 7, 7, and 3 metabolites and a total of 8, 4, 4, and 1 metabolic pathway that were significantly different in serum between CYST, Stone, HCC, HCCA and healthy controls were identified and enriched through serum metabolomics analysis, respectively. Conclusion According to the above identified differential metabolites and enriched metabolic pathway results, it is shown that liver lesions mainly involved in the energy metabolism and amino acid metabolism & transport, in addition, inositol phosphate metabolism were significantly changed both in CYST, Stone, HCC and HCCA.