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Prince N, Liang D, Tan Y, Alshawabkeh A, Angel EE, Busgang SA, Chu SH, Cordero JF, Curtin P, Dunlop AL, Gilbert-Diamond D, Giulivi C, Hoen AG, Karagas MR, Kirchner D, Litonjua AA, Manjourides J, McRitchie S, Meeker JD, Pathmasiri W, Perng W, Schmidt RJ, Watkins DJ, Weiss ST, Zens MS, Zhu Y, Lasky-Su JA, Kelly RS. Metabolomic data presents challenges for epidemiological meta-analysis: a case study of childhood body mass index from the ECHO consortium. Metabolomics 2024; 20:16. [PMID: 38267770 PMCID: PMC11099615 DOI: 10.1007/s11306-023-02082-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Meta-analyses across diverse independent studies provide improved confidence in results. However, within the context of metabolomic epidemiology, meta-analysis investigations are complicated by differences in study design, data acquisition, and other factors that may impact reproducibility. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to identify maternal blood metabolites during pregnancy (> 24 gestational weeks) related to offspring body mass index (BMI) at age two years through a meta-analysis framework. METHODS We used adjusted linear regression summary statistics from three cohorts (total N = 1012 mother-child pairs) participating in the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. We applied a random-effects meta-analysis framework to regression results and adjusted by false discovery rate (FDR) using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. RESULTS Only 20 metabolites were detected in all three cohorts, with an additional 127 metabolites detected in two of three cohorts. Of these 147, 6 maternal metabolites were nominally associated (P < 0.05) with offspring BMI z-scores at age 2 years in a meta-analytic framework including at least two studies: arabinose (Coefmeta = 0.40 [95% CI 0.10,0.70], Pmeta = 9.7 × 10-3), guanidinoacetate (Coefmeta = - 0.28 [- 0.54, - 0.02], Pmeta = 0.033), 3-ureidopropionate (Coefmeta = 0.22 [0.017,0.41], Pmeta = 0.033), 1-methylhistidine (Coefmeta = - 0.18 [- 0.33, - 0.04], Pmeta = 0.011), serine (Coefmeta = - 0.18 [- 0.36, - 0.01], Pmeta = 0.034), and lysine (Coefmeta = - 0.16 [- 0.32, - 0.01], Pmeta = 0.044). No associations were robust to multiple testing correction. CONCLUSIONS Despite including three cohorts with large sample sizes (N > 100), we failed to identify significant metabolite associations after FDR correction. Our investigation demonstrates difficulties in applying epidemiological meta-analysis to clinical metabolomics, emphasizes challenges to reproducibility, and highlights the need for standardized best practices in metabolomic epidemiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Prince
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Donghai Liang
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Youran Tan
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Akram Alshawabkeh
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elizabeth Esther Angel
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Stefanie A Busgang
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA
| | - Su H Chu
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - José F Cordero
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Paul Curtin
- Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA
| | - Anne L Dunlop
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Diane Gilbert-Diamond
- Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
- Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | - Cecilia Giulivi
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Anne G Hoen
- Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | - Margaret R Karagas
- Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | - David Kirchner
- Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, USA
| | - Augusto A Litonjua
- Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
| | | | - Susan McRitchie
- Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, USA
| | - John D Meeker
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Wimal Pathmasiri
- Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Nutrition Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC, USA
| | - Wei Perng
- Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Rebecca J Schmidt
- Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
- MIND Institute, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Deborah J Watkins
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Scott T Weiss
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael S Zens
- Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA
| | - Yeyi Zhu
- Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Jessica A Lasky-Su
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rachel S Kelly
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Medicine, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Villalba H, Llambrich M, Gumà J, Brezmes J, Cumeras R. A Metabolites Merging Strategy (MMS): Harmonization to Enable Studies' Intercomparison. Metabolites 2023; 13:1167. [PMID: 38132849 PMCID: PMC10744506 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13121167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolomics encounters challenges in cross-study comparisons due to diverse metabolite nomenclature and reporting practices. To bridge this gap, we introduce the Metabolites Merging Strategy (MMS), offering a systematic framework to harmonize multiple metabolite datasets for enhanced interstudy comparability. MMS has three steps. Step 1: Translation and merging of the different datasets by employing InChIKeys for data integration, encompassing the translation of metabolite names (if needed). Followed by Step 2: Attributes' retrieval from the InChIkey, including descriptors of name (title name from PubChem and RefMet name from Metabolomics Workbench), and chemical properties (molecular weight and molecular formula), both systematic (InChI, InChIKey, SMILES) and non-systematic identifiers (PubChem, CheBI, HMDB, KEGG, LipidMaps, DrugBank, Bin ID and CAS number), and their ontology. Finally, a meticulous three-step curation process is used to rectify disparities for conjugated base/acid compounds (optional step), missing attributes, and synonym checking (duplicated information). The MMS procedure is exemplified through a case study of urinary asthma metabolites, where MMS facilitated the identification of significant pathways hidden when no dataset merging strategy was followed. This study highlights the need for standardized and unified metabolite datasets to enhance the reproducibility and comparability of metabolomics studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Héctor Villalba
- Department of Oncology, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), CERCA, 43204 Reus, Spain
| | - Maria Llambrich
- Department of Electrical Electronic Engineering and Automation, University of Rovira i Virgili (URV), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
- Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), CERCA, 43204 Reus, Spain
| | - Josep Gumà
- Department of Oncology, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), CERCA, 43204 Reus, Spain
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Rovira i Virgili (URV), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Jesús Brezmes
- Department of Electrical Electronic Engineering and Automation, University of Rovira i Virgili (URV), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
- Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), CERCA, 43204 Reus, Spain
| | - Raquel Cumeras
- Department of Oncology, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), CERCA, 43204 Reus, Spain
- Department of Electrical Electronic Engineering and Automation, University of Rovira i Virgili (URV), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
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Bremer PL, Fiehn O. SMetaS: A Sample Metadata Standardizer for Metabolomics. Metabolites 2023; 13:941. [PMID: 37623884 PMCID: PMC10456726 DOI: 10.3390/metabo13080941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolomics has advanced to an extent where it is desired to standardize and compare data across individual studies. While past work in standardization has focused on data acquisition, data processing, and data storage aspects, metabolomics databases are useless without ontology-based descriptions of biological samples and study designs. We introduce here a user-centric tool to automatically standardize sample metadata. Using such a tool in frontends for metabolomic databases will dramatically increase the FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) of data, specifically for data reuse and for finding datasets that share comparable sets of metadata, e.g., study meta-analyses, cross-species analyses or large scale metabolomic atlases. SMetaS (Sample Metadata Standardizer) combines a classic database with an API and frontend and is provided in a containerized environment. The tool has two user-centric components. In the first component, the user designs a sample metadata matrix and fills the cells using natural language terminology. In the second component, the tool transforms the completed matrix by replacing freetext terms with terms from fixed vocabularies. This transformation process is designed to maximize simplicity and is guided by, among other strategies, synonym matching and typographical fixing in an n-grams/nearest neighbors model approach. The tool enables downstream analysis of submitted studies and samples via string equality for FAIR retrospective use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parker Ladd Bremer
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA;
| | - Oliver Fiehn
- West Coast Metabolomics Center for Compound Identification, UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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