Urine metabolomics analysis of patients recovered of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry

Background

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has become a serious global public health crisis, particularly the newly emerged Omicron variant. Although most of the clinical symptoms of Omicron infection are mild, it spreads rapidly and the physiological changes associated with this variant are difficult to understand. This study investigates the possibility of treating renal metabolism in patients with COVID-19.

Methods

High-resolution mass spectrometry was used to detect non-targeted metabolomes in patients with COVID-19 (n = 8) and healthy subjects (n = 12). The main inclusion criteria were that the recovered omicron patients diagnosed as negative, met the discharge criteria and provided information consents. In this study, univariate and multivariate statistical methods were used to analyze the data between the two groups to screen different urinary metabolites associated with Omicron infection. Altered metabolic pathways related to omicron infection were also identified by examining the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database.

Results

The single-factor and multi-factor statistics showed that the changes in renal metabolism after treatment were significantly different from those in the control group. Approximately 3500 urinary metabolites were detected in patients recovered of the omicron variant of COVID-19 through bioinformatics methods with 296 metabolites in high confidence level. Different urinary metabolomes were also analysed to inform signal transduction pathways and prognosis prediction; some of these differential metabolites have important biological roles. Compared with the control group, the patients recovered of the omicron variant of COVID-19 exhibited dramatic changes in renal metabolism, including amino acid metabolism, ketone bodies and prolactin metabolic pathways.

Conclusions

Patients with the omicron variant of COVID-19 may have metabolic abnormalities in their urinary system during infection and treatment; thus, follow-up and observation should be strengthened. Thus, this study can provide a certain reference basis for further exploring the pathogenic mechanism and the metabolic indicators of COVID-19.