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Metabolites
Special Issues
Research on Metabolic Biomarkers in Different Diseases
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Research on Metabolic Biomarkers in Different Diseases

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 1501

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xiaohui Liu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: LC-MS; biomarker discovery; metabolomics; lipidomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Clinical biomarkers, measurable molecular indicators found in biological samples, are now extensively utilized for early detection of disease, prediction of patient prognosis, and assessment of therapeutic efficacy in various diseases. Metabolomics, an increasingly powerful and high-throughput analytical technique, is capable of comprehensive profiling of endogenous metabolites under physiological and pathological states, thereby facilitating the identification and validation of novel metabolite biomarkers. These biomarkers hold significant promise for enhancing disease diagnosis and subtyping, evaluating treatment response and resistance mechanisms, uncovering therapeutic targets, and ultimately advancing personalized medicine through metabolic phenotyping. Fueled by continuous advancements in analytical techniques, computational power for data analysis, and metabolite annotation databases, modern metabolomics can provide valid prediction of disease onset and progression, guide optimal drug selection and dosage, monitor therapeutic interventions, and contribute to the development of strategies aimed at improving patient therapeutic outcomes and survival rates.

This Special Issue aims to cover progress in the methodology of metabolomics, including sample preparation, data acquisition or data processing for the study of clinical biomarkers, and application in biomarker discovery in different diseases.

Dr. Xiaohui Liu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metabolomics
  • biomarkers
  • diseases
  • methodology
  • bioinformatics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2360 KB  
Article
Synovial Joint Fluid Metabolomic Profiles and Pathways Differentiate Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriatic Arthritis
by Ozan Kaplan, Rositsa Karalilova, Zguro Batalov, Konstantin Batalov, Maria Kazakova, Victoria Sarafian, Emine Koç, Mustafa Çelebier and Feza Korkusuz
Metabolites 2026, 16(1), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo16010070 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1166
Abstract
Background: Distinguishing between osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) remains challenging despite different underlying mechanisms. Synovial fluid reflects metabolic changes within affected joints, yet comprehensive metabolomic comparisons across these conditions are limited. We aimed to identify disease-specific metabolic signatures in [...] Read more.
Background: Distinguishing between osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) remains challenging despite different underlying mechanisms. Synovial fluid reflects metabolic changes within affected joints, yet comprehensive metabolomic comparisons across these conditions are limited. We aimed to identify disease-specific metabolic signatures in synovial fluid that could improve differential diagnosis and reveal therapeutic targets. Methods: We collected synovial fluid from 39 patients (20 OA, 5 RA, and 14 PsA) during routine knee arthrocentesis between January 2023 and February 2024. Following metabolite extraction, we performed untargeted metabolomic profiling using quadrupole time-of-flight liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (Q-TOF LC/MS). Data underwent multivariate statistical analysis, including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), to identify discriminatory metabolites. Results: While unsupervised analysis showed overlap between groups, supervised PLS-DA achieved clear metabolic separation. RA samples showed elevated itaconic acid, indicating inflammatory macrophage activation, and increased O-acetylserine, suggesting altered one-carbon metabolism. Hypoxanthine was decreased, which reflected severe metabolic stress. PsA exhibited the unique elevation of 4,4-dimethylcholestane and 2-oxoarginine. These metabolites have previously been unreported in this disease. OA demonstrated increased hippuric acid and indoleacetic acid, which are both gut microbiota products, supporting the gut–joint axis hypothesis. Conclusions: Each arthritis type displayed distinct metabolic fingerprints in synovial fluid. Candidate discriminatory metabolites, including gut-derived metabolites in OA and specific lipid alterations in PsA, open new diagnostic and therapeutic avenues. Given the limited RA sample size (n = 5), RA-related results should be viewed as exploratory and requiring validation in larger independent cohorts. These metabolites may, after rigorous validation in larger and independent cohorts, contribute to multi-metabolite biomarker panels for earlier diagnosis and to the rational design of targeted therapeutics addressing disease-specific metabolic disruptions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Metabolic Biomarkers in Different Diseases)
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