Network-based analysis of blood metabolic biomarkers for stroke

Objective To explore new potential markers and disease targets of stroke by integrating and analyzing the literature reporting metabolites of stroke in the guidance of the network analgsis method. Methods Differential metabolites found by clinical metabolomics studies of stroke were collected and summarized according to the two major categories of ischemic stroke(IS)and hemorrhagic stroke(HS). The pathway enrichment analysis was performed to analyze the metabolic pathways closely related to IS and HS, respectively. On this basis, the network topology analysis was employed to construct a stroke-related "metabolite-pathway" interaction network, and the key metabolic pathways and metabolic markers were screened out with the node centrality as an indicator. Results Totally 117 and 11 potential markers related to IS and HS were obtained, respectively. A total of 13 and 12 metabolic pathways were found to be significantly changed before and after the onset of IS, respectively, by the metabolic pathway analysis, while 19 metabolic pathways that related to HS were uncovered by the joint pathway analysis. Finally, 12 key metabolic pathways and 47 metabolite markers such as ammonia recycling, urea cycle, branched-chain amino acids, and glutamic acid were uncovered by the network analysis. Conclusion Metabolic disorders have a close relationship with the development and progression of stroke.