Exploring potential biomarkers and determining the metabolic mechanism of type 2 diabetes mellitus using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry

Diabetes mellitus has imposed a huge burden on modern society and is a serious threat to human health globally. Obese people usually have a higher risk of developing T2DM, and this disease is often diagnosed in older persons, accompanied by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, arteriosclerosis and other diseases. In the early stages of T2DM, patients can have difficulties in identifying any symptoms or may only suffer from slight fatigue and thirst with no obvious hyperglycemia. The early detection of this disease may provide a means of preventing the development of this disease in a more timely way. The metabolic profiling of small molecules provides a snapshot of physiological processes. By using a metabolite profiling platform based on mass spectrometry coupled with pattern recognition analysis, outstanding biomarkers that can be used for forecasting disease may be identified. In this study, we attempted to investigate potential key metabolic pathways associated with T2DM and determine its metabolic mechanism. Using multivariate statistical analysis, 33 marker metabolites associated with the metabolism of lipids, amino acids, and carbohydrates were identified. Our experiment yielded substantial new insights into serum metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, and these metabolites will be targets for future mechanistic research to help understand the clinical significance of these metabolic abnormalities.