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Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites, promising biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease and Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease. Authors' reply

Ratcliffe, N.; Ahmed, I.; Greenwood, R.; Costello, B.; Ratcliffe, N. M.; Probert, C.

Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites, promising biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease and Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease. Authors' reply Thumbnail


Authors

N. Ratcliffe

I. Ahmed

R. Greenwood

B. Costello

Norman Ratcliffe Norman.Ratcliffe@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Materials & Sensors Science

C. Probert



Abstract

The aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests an important role of gut microbial dysbiosis in IBD, and this may be associated with changes in faecal volatile organic metabolites (VOMs).To describe the changes in the faecal VOMs of patients with IBD and establish their diagnostic potential as non-invasive biomarkers.Faecal samples were obtained from 117 people with Crohn's disease (CD), 100 with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 109 healthy controls. Faecal VOMs were extracted using solid-phase micro-extraction and analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Data analysis was carried out using partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) to determine class membership based on distinct metabolomic profiles.The PLS-DA model showed clear separation of active CD from inactive disease and healthy controls (P < 0.001). Heptanal, 1-octen-3-ol, 2-piperidinone and 6-methyl-2-heptanone were up-regulated in the active CD group [variable important in projection (VIP) score 2.8, 2.7, 2.6 and 2.4, respectively], while methanethiol, 3-methyl-phenol, short-chain fatty acids and ester derivatives were found to be less abundant (VIP score of 3.5, 2.6, 1.5 and 1.2, respectively). The PLS-DA model also separated patients with small bowel CD from healthy controls and those with colonic CD from UC (P < 0.001). In contrast, less distinct separation was observed between active UC, inactive UC and healthy controls.Analysis of faecal volatile organic metabolites can provide an understanding of gut metabolomic changes in IBD. It has the potential to provide a non-invasive means of diagnosing IBD, and can differentiate between UC and CD.

Citation

Ratcliffe, N., Ahmed, I., Greenwood, R., Costello, B., Ratcliffe, N. M., & Probert, C. (2016). Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites, promising biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease and Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease. Authors' reply. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 43(11), 1241-1242. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.13617

Journal Article Type Letter
Acceptance Date May 1, 2016
Online Publication Date May 3, 2016
Publication Date Jun 1, 2016
Deposit Date Jun 27, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Print ISSN 0269-2813
Electronic ISSN 1365-2036
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 43
Issue 11
Pages 1241-1242
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.13617
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/916231
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apt.13617
Related Public URLs http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27137729