Metabolomic profiling of COVID-19 using serum and urine samples in intensive care and medical ward cohorts

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant global health threat, with uncertainties persisting regarding the factors determining whether individuals experience mild symptoms, severe conditions, or succumb to the disease. This study presents an NMR metabolomics-based approach, analysing 80 serum and urine samples from COVID-19 patients (34 intensive care patients and 46 hospitalized patients) and 32 from healthy controls. Our research identifies discriminant metabolites and clinical variables relevant to COVID-19 diagnosis and severity. These discriminant metabolites play a role in specific pathways, mainly “Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis”, “Phenylalanine metabolism”, “Glycerolipid metabolism” and “Arginine and proline metabolism”. We propose a three-metabolite diagnostic panel—comprising isoleucine, TMAO, and glucose—that effectively discriminates COVID-19 patients from healthy individuals, achieving high efficiency. Furthermore, we found an optimal biomarker panel capable of efficiently classify disease severity considering both clinical characteristics (obesity/overweight, dyslipidemia, and lymphocyte count) together with metabolites content (ethanol, TMAO, tyrosine and betaine).