COMETA project: the meeting of clinical practice and metabolomic in the fight against CoViD

ABSTRACT

Background and Aim: The metabolomic profile is a valuable tool in biomedicine. In the framework of the COMETA project, metabolomic analyses are used to identify specific biochemical alterations of the CoViD-19 disease, of its severity and evolution over time. Materials and Methods: Four different groups of subjects are enrolled in the study 1) CoViD-19 positive patients at different stages of the disease;2) CoViD-19 recovered patients;3) patients with CoViD-19-like symptoms but with negative nasopharyngeal swab;4) control subjects. Metabolomic analyses are conducted on blood plasma samples using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. The 1H NMR spectra contain information on the number and relative concentration of the most abundant metabolites in each sample (>1 μM) and represent the metabolic fingerprint of each patient. Results: 1H NMR spectra on a first set of approximately 400 plasma samples have been acquired allowing us to measure 25 metabolites among those involved in the main biochemical pathways (glucose metabolism, glycolysis and Krebs cycle, ketone bodies, amino acids) as well as 114 parameters related to plasmatic lipoproteins. Conclusions: Based on previous studies by some of us and considering the high number of patients be enrolled in COMETA, we expect an excellent discrimination and characterization of the pathology in its various clinical manifestations. Long-term effects of the disease will be evaluated via a follow-up at 3-6 months from disease onset.