Diagnosing impaired glucose tolerance using direct infusion mass spectrometry of blood plasma

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 9; p. e105343
• Main Authors: Lokhov, Petr G, Trifonova, Oxana P, Maslov, Dmitry L, Balashova, Elena E, Archakov, Alexander I, Shestakova, Ekaterina A, Shestakova, Marina V, Dedov, Ivan I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 09-09-2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood; Blood plasma; Diabetes mellitus; Female; Glucose; Glucose Intolerance - blood; Glucose Intolerance - diagnosis; Glucose tolerance; Humans; Infusion; Insulin resistance; Ions; Low molecular weights; Male; Mass Spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Medical diagnosis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolites; Metabolomics - methods; Middle Aged; Molecular chains; Molecular weight; Obesity; Physical Sciences; Plasma; Plasma - chemistry; Prediabetic State - blood; Prediabetic State - diagnosis; Reproducibility; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Spectroscopy; United States > US; Germany; Russia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105343

The goal of this study was to evaluate the capacity for mass spectrometry of blood plasma to diagnose impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). For this study, blood plasma samples from control subjects (n = 30) and patients with IGT (n = 20) were treated with methanol and low molecular weight fraction were then analyzed by direct infusion mass spectrometry. A total of 51 metabolite ions strongly associated with IGT were detected. The area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for diagnosing IGT that was based on an analysis of all these metabolites was 0.93 (accuracy 90%, specificity 90%, and sensitivity 90%). The associated reproducibility was 85%. The metabolites identified were also consistent with risk factors previously associated with the development of diabetes. Thus, direct infusion mass spectrometry of blood plasma metabolites represents a rapid, single-step, and reproducible method for the analysis of metabolites. Moreover, this method has the potential to serve as a prototype for clinical analyses that could replace the currently used glucose tolerance test with a more patient-friendly assay.