Metabolomics technology and their application to the study of the viral infection

Objective: In the present review article we have summarized the use of the metabolomics approach to study the metabolic modifications occurring in several bio-fluids due to viral infections. The aim is to highlight the ability of metabolomics to find early fingerprints, which are related to the infections. Methods: The 1H-NMR, UHPLC/MS/MS2, UPLC/ESI-SYNAPT-HDMS, UPLC-Q-TOF-HDMS analyses were used for the determination of several metabolites representative of the viral infections. The data were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and by regression techniques. Results: The major changes were related to nucleotide, carbohydrates, lipids and amino acid metabolisms. Conclusions: The metabolomics approach could be considered a viable option for characterization of the viral infection and for detecting on going differences in the bio-fluids composition.