The following is a summary of “Cerebrospinal Fluid Metabolomic Pattern of Different Pituitary Stalk Lesions,” published in the March 2024 issue of Endocrinology by Wang, et al.
For a study, researchers sought to characterize the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) metabolomic patterns in patients with pituitary stalk lesions.
CSF samples were collected from patients with various pituitary stalk lesions treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, including germ cell tumor (GCT, n = 27), hypophysitis (n = 10), and Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) or Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) (LCH + ECD, n = 10). Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was employed to characterize the CSF metabolome profiles.
A total of 44 metabolites exhibited significant differences between patients with GCT and those with hypophysitis (P < .05). Among patients with GCT with CSF β-hCG < 5 mIU/mL and those with hypophysitis, 15 metabolites showed differential expression (P < .05, fold change > 1.5 or < 1/1.5), all with an area under the curve (AUC) above 0.7. Additionally, 9 metabolites significantly differed between patients with GCT and those with LCH + ECD (P < .05), and 7 metabolites showed significant differences between GCT (CSF β-hCG < 5 mIU/mL) and LCH + ECD (P < .05, fold change > 1.5 or < 1/1.5). Six metabolites were found to be significantly different between patients with hypophysitis and those with LCH + ECD (P < .05), with 5 exhibiting fold changes greater than 1.5 or less than 1/1.5. Notably, three metabolites, namely 5-deoxydiplosporin, cloversaponin I, and phytosphingosine, demonstrated excellent discriminatory capabilities among the three disease categories. Moreover, we identified 67 metabolites associated with clinical test results (ρ > 0.2, P < .05), with 29 metabolites showing strong correlations (ρ > 0.4, P < .05).
The study represented the first comprehensive investigation of CSF metabolomics in various pituitary stalk lesions. The findings suggested that CSF metabolomics holds promise as a valuable strategy for biomarker discovery in this clinical context.
Reference: academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/109/3/802/7285763