TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes to the sebum lipidome upon COVID-19 infection observed via rapid sampling from the skin
AU - Spick, Matt
AU - Longman, Katherine
AU - Frampas, Cecile
AU - Lewis, Holly
AU - Costa, Catia
AU - Walters, Deborah Dunn
AU - Stewart, Alex
AU - Wilde, Michael
AU - Greener, Danni
AU - Evetts, George
AU - Trivedi, Drupad
AU - Barran, Perdita
AU - Pitt, Andy
AU - Bailey, Melanie
N1 - 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 be openly available for all researchers to access. The website URL is https://covid19-msc.org/, MS was responsible for statistical analysis and authorship of the manuscript. MS and MW extracted the samples, with MW providing additional advice on multivariate analysis. KL, CF and AS collected all samples used in this work; AS and DDW obtained ethical approval. GE and DG facilitated access to participants and collected participant metadata. PB, DT and AP advised on sampling protocol and on mass spectrometry acquisition and protocols. CC and HL assisted with mass spectrometry method development. MB obtained funding for the study, and was responsible for supervision of the research team. The authors acknowledge Samiksha Ghimire from Groningen Medical School for translation of participant information sheets and consent forms into Nepalese. The authors acknowledge Amanda Souza and Ioanna Ntai of Thermo Fisher, as well as Mason Malloy, Patrick Sears and Janella de Jesus of the University of Surrey, for their help with method development. We are grateful to Thanuja Weerasinge (Jay), Manjula Meda, Chris Orchard and Joanne Zamani of Frimley Park NHS Foundation Trust for their help with ethics approvals and access to hospital patients. We also thank the reviewers of this manuscript for their improvements and insights. 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 The Authors
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - COVID-19 diagnostics
KW - Lipidomics
KW - Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
KW - Multi-variate analysis
KW - Sebomics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102100653&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100786
DO - 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100786
M3 - Article
C2 - 33718846
AN - SCOPUS:85102100653
SN - 2589-5370
VL - 33
SP - 100786
JO - EClinicalMedicine
JF - EClinicalMedicine
M1 - 100786
ER -