Metabolomics and biomarkers for lupus nephritis – a systematic review

Background The development of personalized medicine using high-throughput methods, such as metabolomics profiling, in discovering and validating biomarkers, may play a key role in the development of new and non-invasive methods for diagnosis and understanding of lupus nephritis (LN). Objectives The aim of this systematic review was to present the current status of metabolomics discovery of biomarkers applied to diagnosing, staging, understanding and treating LN. Methods The review was made according to PRISMA guidelines, searching for keywords associated to “Lupus”, “Lupus nephritis”, “Metabolomics” and their variants, with no language restriction, in PUBMED, MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. Full-texts and primary studies in humans including the topics of lupus erythematosus and/or lupus nephritis and used metabolomics in urine and serum as a research method, were included and data analysis was performed individually. Results The search revealed multiple candidates for the diagnosis, staging and prognosis of lupus nephritis, such as citrate, acetate, N-acetyl glycoproteins and various amino acids, as their level in the biofluids of LN patients found in the studies are consistent with the known pathophysiology of LN and inflammatory processes. Conclusions The study of metabolomics associated with LN still needs further investigation concerning metabolic pathways and pathogeny. As the community building the databases for the research and annotation of metabolites grow, the use of serum, urine, and saliva in metabolomic profiling, may become a potential non-invasive method in translational medicine studies.