Serum lipidome reveals lipid metabolic dysregulation in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome

Methods

This study prospectively collected peripheral blood sera from 11 critical SFTS patients, 37 non-critical SFTS patients, and 23 healthy controls during the early stages of infection for lipidomics analysis. A systematic bioinformatics analysis was conducted from three aspects integrating lipid differential expressions, lipid differential correlations, and lipid-clinical indices correlations to reveal the serum lipid metabolic dysregulation in SFTSV-infected individuals.Results: Our findings reveals significant lipid metabolic dysregulation in SFTS patients.

Specifically, compared to healthy controls, SFTS patients exhibited three distinct modes of lipid differential expression: increased levels of lipids including phosphatidylserine (PS), hexosylceramide (HexCer), and triglycerides (TG); decreased levels of lipids including lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), acylcarnitine (AcCa), and cholesterol esters (ChE); and lipids showing "dual changes" including phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE).

Finally, based on lipid metabolic pathways and literature analysis, we systematically elucidated the potential mechanisms underlying lipid metabolic dysregulation in the early stage of SFTSV infection.Conclusion: Our study presents the first global serum lipidome profile and reveals the lipid metabolic dysregulation patterns in the early stage of SFTSV infection. These findings provide a new basis for the diagnosis, treatment, and further investigation of the disease.