Changes to the sebum lipidome upon COVID-19 infection observed via rapid sampling from the skin

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented demand for testing - for diagnosis and prognosis - as well as for investigation into the impact of the disease on the host metabolism. Sebum sampling has the potential to support both needs by looking at what the virus does to us, rather than looking for the virus itself. Methods: In this pilot study, sebum samples were collected from 67 hospitalised patients (30 COVID-19 positive and 37 COVID-19 negative) by gauze swab. Lipidomics analysis was carried out using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, identifying 998 reproducible features. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were applied to the resulting feature set. Findings: Lipid levels were depressed in COVID-19 positive participants, indicative of dyslipidemia; p-values of 0·022 and 0·015 were obtained for triglycerides and ceramides respectively, with effect sizes of 0·44 and 0·57. Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis showed separation of COVID-19 positive and negative participants with sensitivity of 57% and specificity of 68%, improving to 79% and 83% respectively when controlled for confounding comorbidities. Interpretation: COVID-19 dysregulates many areas of metabolism; in this work we show that the skin lipidome can be added to the list. Given that samples can be provided quickly and painlessly, we conclude that sebum is worthy of future consideration for clinical sampling. Funding: The authors acknowledge funding from the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account for sample collection and processing, as well as EPSRC Fellowship Funding EP/R031118/1, the University of Surrey and BBSRC BB/T002212/1. Mass Spectrometry was funded under EP/P001440/1.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100786
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > Aston Medical School
Funding Information: Participant metadata data with identifiers, alongside mass spectrometry .RAW files will be made available on the Mass Spectrometry Coalition website upon publication of this study. The analytical protocols used as well as sample and participant data will
Additional Information: © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account for sample collection, as well as EPSRC Fellowship Funding EP/R031118/1. Mass Spectrometry was funded under EP/P001440/1. Sample collection and processing was funded by the University of Surrey and the BBSRC BB/T002212/1 Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19 diagnostics,Lipidomics,Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry,Multi-variate analysis,Sebomics,General Medicine
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2024 08:23
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2021 09:50
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://www.sci ... 589537021000663 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2021-03
Published Online Date: 2021-03-06
Accepted Date: 2021-02-18
Authors: Spick, Matt
Longman, Katherine
Frampas, Cecile
Lewis, Holly
Costa, Catia
Walters, Deborah Dunn
Stewart, Alex
Wilde, Michael
Greener, Danni
Evetts, George
Trivedi, Drupad
Barran, Perdita
Pitt, Andy (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-3619-6503)
Bailey, Melanie

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