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Organic acid profile of isovaleric acidemia: a comprehensive metabolomics approach

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Abstract

Isovaleric acidemia (IVA, MIM 248600) can be a severe and potentially life-threatening disease in affected neonates, but with a positive prognosis on treatment for some phenotypes. This study presents the first application of metabolomics to evaluate the metabolite profiles derived from urine samples of untreated and treated IVA patients as well as of obligate heterozygotes. All IVA patients carried the same homozygous c.367 G > A nucleotide change in exon 4 of the IVD gene but manifested phenotypic diversity. Concurrent class analysis (CONCA) was used to compare all the metabolites from the original complete data set obtained from the three case and two control groups used in this investigation. This application of CONCA has not been reported previously, and is used here to compare four different modes of scaling of all metabolites. The variables important in discrimination from the CONCA thus enabled the recognition of different metabolic patterns encapsulated within the data sets that would not have been revealed by using only one mode of scaling. Application of multivariate and univariate analyses disclosed 11 important metabolites that distinguished untreated IVA from controls. These included well-established diagnostic biomarkers of IVA, endogenous detoxification markers, and 3-hydroxycaproic acid, an indicator of ketosis, but not reported previously for this disease. Nine metabolites were identified that reflected the effect of treatment of IVA. They included detoxification products and indicators related to the high carbohydrate and low protein diet which formed the hallmark of the treatment. This investigation also provides the first comparative metabolite profile for heterozygotes of this inherited metabolic disorder. The detection of informative metabolites in even very low concentrations in all three experimental groups highlights the potential advantage of the holistic mode of analysis of inherited metabolic diseases in a metabolomics investigation.

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Acknowledgments

M. Dercksen is a recipient of a PhD scholarship from the Carolina MacGillavry Foundation awarded by the “Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen”. Funding for the project from the Technological Innovation Agency of the South African Department of Science and Technology and from North-West University is likewise acknowledged. We also thank the IVA families for their participation in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Human Metabonomics, North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Marli Dercksen, Lodewyk J. Mienie & Carolus J. Reinecke

  2. Statistical Consultation Services, North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Gerhard Koekemoer

  3. Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Departments of Pediatrics and Clinical Chemistry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marli Dercksen, Marinus Duran & Ronald J. A. Wanders

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  1. Marli Dercksen
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  2. Gerhard Koekemoer
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  6. Carolus J. Reinecke
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Correspondence to Carolus J. Reinecke.

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Dercksen, M., Koekemoer, G., Duran, M. et al. Organic acid profile of isovaleric acidemia: a comprehensive metabolomics approach. Metabolomics 9, 765–777 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-013-0501-5

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