Metabolomics, a promising approach to translational research in cardiology

The metabolome is the complete set of metabolites found in a biological cell, tissue, organ or organism, representing the end products of cellular processes. Metabolomics is the systematic study of small-molecule metabolite profiles produced by specific cellular processes. mRNA gene expression data and proteomic analyses do not show the complexity of physiopathological processes that occur in a cell, tissue or organism. Metabolic profiling, in contrast, represents a paradigm shift in medical research from approaches that focus on a limited number of enzymatic reactions or single pathways, with the goal of capturing the complexity of metabolic networks. In this article, we will provide a description of metabolomics in comparison with other, better known "omics" disciplines such as genomics and proteomics. In addition, we will review the current rationale for the implementation of metabolomics in cardiology, its basic methodology and the available data from human studies in this discipline. The topics covered will delineate the importance of being able to use the metabolomic information to understand the mechanisms of diseases from the perspective of systems biology, and as a non-invasive approach to the diagnosis, grading and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.