Metabolomics studies in cushing's syndrome: recent developments and perspectives.

Abstract

Introduction: Exogenous Cushing's syndrome is the result of long-term exposure to glucocorticoids, while endogenous Cushing's syndrome occurs due to excessive production of glucocorticoids within the body. Cushing's syndrome remains a diagnostic challenge for the treating physician.Mass spectrometry, with its better resolution, detectability, and specificity, paved the way to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in several diseases that facilitated the evolution of biomarkers and personalized medicine, which can be applicable to manage Cushing's syndrome as well.

Areas covered: There are only a few reports of mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approaches to endogenous Cushing's syndrome of certain etiologies. However, the application of this approach in the diagnosis of exogenous Cushing has not been explored much. This review attempts to discuss the application of the mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach in the evaluation of Cushing's syndrome.

Expert opinion: Global metabolomics has the potential to discover altered metabolites and associated signaling and metabolic pathways, which may serve as potential biomarkers that would help in developing tools to accelerate precision medicine. Multi-omics approaches will provide innovative solutions to develop molecular tests for multi-molecule panel assays.