Due to rapid nutrition transitions, the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, has been increasing at an alarming rate in the Chinese population. Moreover, Asians, including Chinese, have been hypothesized to have a higher susceptibility to cardiometabolic diseases than Caucasians. Early prediction and prevention are key to controlling this epidemic trend; to this end, the identification of novel biomarkers is critical to reflect environmental exposure, as well as to reveal endogenous metabolic and pathophysiologic mechanisms. The emerging \"omics\" technologies, especially metabolomics, offer a unique opportunity to provide novel signatures or fingerprints to understand the effects of genetic and non-genetic factors on cardiometabolic health. During the past two decades, metabolomic approaches have been increasingly used in various epidemiological studies, primarily in Western populations. Although the field is still in its early stages, some studies have tried to identify novel compounds or confirm their metabolites and associations with cardiometabolic diseases in Chinese populations, including amino acids, fatty acids, acylcarnitines and other metabolites. Despite major efforts to discover novel biomarkers for disease prediction or intervention, the limits in current study design, analytical platforms, and data processing approaches are challenges in metabolomic research worldwide. Therefore, future research with more advanced technologies, rigorous study designs, standardized detection and analytic approaches, and integrated data from multiomics approaches are essential to evaluate the feasibility of using metabolomics in clinical settings. Finally, the functional roles and underlying biological mechanisms of metabolomic biomarkers should be elucidated by future mechanistic research.
摘要: 由于快速的营养变迁, 中国人群的心血管代谢疾病如代谢综合征、2型糖尿病和心血管疾病等的患病率急速攀升。而且, 与西方人群相比, 包括中国人在内的亚洲人群被认为具有较高的心血管代谢疾病易感性。早期预测和预防对于控制此类疾病的流行尤为重要, 基于此, 发现新的疾病生物标记物是反映环境暴露, 揭示机体代谢和致病机理的关键。新兴的组学技术, 尤其是代谢组学为探知心血管代谢健康的遗传和非遗传影响因素提供了发现新信号特征的机遇。在过去的20年间, 代谢组学技术已经在不同类型的流行病学研究中获得越来越多的应用, 尤其是在西方人群中开展的研究。尽管这一领域仍处于早期阶段, 一些在中国人群中开展的研究已经尝试去发现新的或验证已知的代谢标记物与心血管代谢疾病的关联, 包括氨基酸、脂肪酸、酰基肉碱和其他代谢物。尽管当前在寻找预测或干预疾病的新生物标记物方面投入巨大, 研究设计、检测平台和数据处理过程中存在的缺陷仍是全球代谢组学研究所面临的挑战。因此, 在未来的研究中, 更先进的检测技术, 严谨的研究设计, 标准化的检测分析流程和多组学数据的整合分析, 是评估将代谢组学技术应用于临床实践的可行性的必要环节。最后, 未来的机理研究也需要进一步阐明代谢组学生物标记物的功能和潜在机理。.