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Application of Metabolomics in Lung Research

Protocol
First Online:
Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 1809)

Abstract

Advancements in omics technologies have increased our potential to evaluate molecular changes in a rapid and comprehensive manner. This is especially true in mass spectrometry-based metabolomics where improvements, including ease of use, in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), column chemistries, instruments, software, and molecular databases, have advanced the field considerably. Applications of this relatively new omics technology in clinical research include discovering disease biomarkers, finding new drug targets, and elucidating disease mechanisms. Here we describe a typical clinical metabolomics workflow, which includes the following steps: (1) extraction of metabolites from the lung, plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage, or cells; (2) sample analysis via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; and (3) data analysis using commercial and freely available software packages. Overall, the methods delineated here can help investigators use metabolomics to discovery novel biomarkers and to understand lung diseases.

Key words

Untargeted metabolomics Mass spectrometry Metabolite profiling Targeted metabolomics Lung tissue BALF Plasma EBC 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Pharmaceutical SciencesUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusAuroraUSA

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