METABOTHYRO

The objective of the proposal is to investigate the metabolic fingerprint in breast milk and blood serum samples from women with hypothyroidism and to compare them with corresponding samples from healthy women. The comparison in breast milk is expected to reveal differences in the metabolic fingerprint. For this purpose, a comparison with the maternal blood serum metabolic fingerprint is also conducted, as it more directly reflects changes associated with hypothyroidism.

Additionally, the effects of age, diet, and smoking on the metabolic fingerprint of women with gestational hypothyroidism are explored. A thorough literature search indicates that no study has performed a similar comparative analysis. The metabolic fingerprint has proven to be a powerful tool for exploring systemic metabolic changes and for identifying potential disease-related biomarkers.

To achieve the objectives of the proposed research, a metabolomics approach is applied. Specifically, high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (HR-NMR) spectroscopy is used, and for targeted lipid profiling, gas chromatography (GC) with a flame ionization detector (FID) is employed. The generated data are utilized to develop multivariate statistical analysis models (PCA, OPLS-DA) to identify differences and detect potential biomarkers. For the identification and quantification of metabolites in breast milk and blood serum spectra, a metabolomics computational platform, Metaboneer, already developed at the host institution, is employed.