Plasma Metabolomics to Identify and Stratify Patients With Impaired Glucose Tolerance

Abstract

In total, 99 metabolites and 22 lipoprotein measures were significantly associated with either 2-hour glucose or 2-hour insulin levels. Those comprised variations in baseline concentrations of branched-chain amino ketoacids, acylcarnitines, lysophospholipids, or phosphatidylcholines, largely confirming previous studies. By the use of these metabolites, subjects with IGT segregated into two distinct groups. Our IGT prediction model combining both clinical and metabolomics traits achieved an area under the curve of 0.84, slightly improving the prediction based on established clinical measures. The present metabolomics approach revealed molecular signatures associated directly to the response of the OGTT and to IGT in line with previous studies. However, clustering of subjects with IGT revealed distinct metabolic signatures of otherwise similar individuals, pointing toward the possibility of metabolomics for patient stratification.