Assessment of periportal fibrosis in Schistosomiasis mansoni patients by proton nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomics models

BACKGROUNDThe evaluation of periportal fibrosis (PPF) is essential for a prognostic assessment of patients with Schistosomiasis mansoni. The WHO Niamey Protocol defines patterns of fibrosis from abdominal ultrasonography, H-1-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics has been employed to assess liver fibrosis in some diseases.& nbsp;AIM & nbsp;To build H-1-NMR-based metabonomics models (MM) to discriminate mild from significant periportal PPF and identify differences in the metabolite profiles.& nbsp;METHODS & nbsp;A prospective cross-sectional study was performed on schistosomiasis patients at a University Hospital in Northeastern Brazil. We evaluated 41 serum samples from 10 patients with mild PPF (C Niamey pattern) and 31 patients with significant PPF (D/E/F Niamey patterns). MM were built using partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) formalisms.& nbsp;RESULTS & nbsp;PLS-DA and OPLS-DA resulted in discrimination between mild and significant PPF groups with R2 and Q2 values of 0.80 and 0.38 and 0.72 and 0.42 for each model, respectively. The OPLS-DA model presented accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity values of 92.7%, 90.3%, and 100% to discriminate significant PPF. The metabolites identified as responsible by discrimination were: N-acetylglucosamines, alanine, glycolaldehyde, carbohydrates, and valine.& nbsp;CONCLUSION & nbsp;MMs discriminated mild from significant PPF patterns in patients with Schistosomiasis mansoni through identification of differences in serum metabolites profiles.