MEtabolon Blog

A circadian rhythm is any biological process driven by endogenous cellular clocks that follows an oscillation of about 24 hours. Disruptions in circadian rhythms resulting from our modern lifestyle are associated with familiar afflictions ranging from jet lag to mood and sleep disorders.

Metabolomics gives us valuable methods to compare preclinical model trials to human models of NASH. In this post, we share a case study with Gilead Sciences. More study is needed, but metabolomics may one day prove to outperform more invasive methods of assessing liver fibrosis, revealing opportunities to incorporate metabolomics into diagnostic tools.

Researchers continue to mine the genome for clues that assist in understanding susceptibility to disease, selection of targets for combating disease, and the biomarkers indicating response. Surprisingly, though, a fast and valuable source of data that can either lead or strengthen this pursuit is not always part of the equation.

A new study showed the potentially negative impact of the widely used, over-the-counter drug acetaminophen (paracetamol) on sex hormones, which has significant implications for reproductive health. It also highlights the power of genomic and metabolomic profiling to better understand drug mechanisms of action and metabolism even in common drugs such as acetaminophen.

Why do some people respond to a cancer therapy and some do not? While cancer is a genetic disease, response to therapy is not as systematic or clear-cut as simply matching a mutation to treatment. Other factors are clearly involved. Recent work in both mice and humans suggests that one answer may involve the microbiome.

In this final blog post of our 3-part series on clinical metabolomics, we summarize a recent paper that highlights how metabolomics can be used to identify novel metabolic abnormalities and potential biomarkers associated with an inherited metabolic disorder called GLUT 1 deficiency syndrome (GLUT1-DS). The study is the first to investigate metabolomics perturbation in GLUT1-DS patients, as well as treatment of the disorder with a ketogenic diet (KD), which is currently the only treatment available.