Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics Diagnostics: Promises, Current Developments and Pitfalls

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, MS-based metabolomics has emerged as a promising tool for diagnostics purposes, but despite its promise, no diagnostic tests based on metabolomics have been approved or introduced into the clinic so far. However, there have been more than 2,000 scientific papers published in the past two decades that have used metabolomics analysis for human disease diagnostics, and some of them are good candidates to be introduced in clinical practice in the near future.

This Special Issue is devoted to the most recent advances in metabolomics for diagnostics purposes. We are looking for state-of-the-art research on the subject, able to highlight the potentiality and the limits of such techniques in the early revelation of diseases. Several promises are associated with MS-based metabolomics, such as the early detection of biomarkers, early diagnostics as well as a deeper understanding of the mode of action and the actual status of the disease. On the other end, there are still several challenges associated with MS-based metabolomics, including de novo metabolite identification, differentiation of metabolites from environmental contamination, chromatographic separation of isomers, etc. Furthermore, the statistical validation of the biomarkers is a difficult task, due to the inner variability of the metabolites due to the normal metabolic fluctuations and noisy data.

Dr. Luca Narduzzi
Dr. Beate Fuchs
Guest Editors

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