1EPIUnit, Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
2Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João EPE, Porto, Portugal
3Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management (INEGI), Porto, Portugal
4Imunologia Básica e Clínica, Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
5Departamento de Imunoalergologia, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João EPE, Porto, Portugal
6Disciplina de Imunologia Clínica, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brasil
7Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Publication
History:
Published online: 8 July 2019
Accepted: 30 April 2019
Received: 09 April 2019
Metabolomics can be used to explore altered metabolic pathways in asthma, giving insights into its pathophysiology. We aimed to review how metabolomics has been used to understand asthma by describing metabolic pathways under research and discussing clinical implications. The search was performed in PubMed, and studies published since 2000 using a metabolomics approach, were included. A total of 32 studies were analysed. Pathways related with cellular energy homeostasis, lipid metabolism and oxidative stress, immune and inflammatory processes and others were altered. Initial studies focused on biomarker discovery. But, metabolomics can be used to evaluate drug effects on specific pathways, to highlight pathways that can further develop in new targeted treatments and to identify differences according to asthma severity and phenotypes.