Abstract:

Objective To investigate the metabolic changes of atopic dermatitis（AD）in children using non-targeted metabolomics technology. Methods A total of 37 children with AD（AD group）and 17 healthy children （control group）were enrolled from Zhuzhou Central Hospital from January 1，2023 to June 30，2023. The metabolites in the serum were determined，and the differentially expressed metabolites were screened. Metabolic pathways were analyzed using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG）and the Human Metabolome Database（HMDB），and potential biomarkers in the differentially expressed metabolites for the diagnosis of AD were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve. Results Totally，87 metabolites in AD patients were upregulated（the top 5 were or nithine，glycylproline，gallic acid，hypoxanthine and homocystine），and 46 metabolites were downregulated [the top 5 were D-mannose，（S）-methylmalonyl semialdehyde，（2R_3S）-2_3-malic dimethyl ester，（S）-abscisic acid and 2-oxopentanoic acid]. The involved metabolic pathways included arginine and proline metabolism，D-amino acid metabolism，glycine，serine，threonine metabolism，protein digestion and absorption，arginine biosynthesis and central carbon metabolism in cancer. The areas under curves （AUC） of ornithine，hypoxanthine，homocysteine，D-mannose，（2R_3S）-2_3-malic dimethyl ester，glycylproline，gallic acid，（S）-methylmalonyl semialdehyde，（S）-abscisic acid and 2-oxopentanoic acid were 1.000，1.000，1.000，1.000，1.000，0.950，0.960，0.990，0.940 and 0.940，respectively. Conclusions The metabolic pathways involved in AD patients include amino acid metabolism，protein digestion and absorption and cancer central carbon metabolism，which may be related to the pathogenesis of childhood AD.

Key words: Metabolomics, Pathogenesis, Amino acid metabolism, Atopic dermatitis, children