Atherosclerotic
cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized societies. The lack of metabolite
biomarkers has impeded the clinical diagnosis of
atherosclerosis so far. In this study, stable
atherosclerosis patients (n=16) and age- and sex-matched non-
atherosclerosis healthy subjects (n=28) were recruited from the local community (Harbin, P. R. China). The plasma was collected from each study subject and was subjected to metabolomics analysis by GC/MS. Pattern recognition analyses (principal components analysis, orthogonal partial least-squares discriminate analysis, and hierarchical clustering analysis) commonly demonstrated plasma metabolome, which was significantly different from atherosclerotic and non-atherosclerotic subjects. The development of
atherosclerosis-induced metabolic perturbations of
fatty acids, such as
palmitate,
stearate, and 1-monolinoleoylglycerol, was confirmed consistent with previous publication, showing that
palmitate significantly contributes to
atherosclerosis development via targeting apoptosis and
inflammation pathways. Altogether, this study demonstrated that the development of
atherosclerosis directly perturbed
fatty acid metabolism, especially that of
palmitate, which was confirmed as a phenotypic
biomarker for clinical diagnosis of
atherosclerosis.