Metabolomic & lipidomic information contained in Dried Blood Spot (DBS) vs. serum

Abstract

International audienceDBS (Dried Blood Spot) are used for the screening of neonatal diseases and monitoring adults suffering from certain diseases in clinical context. DBS is a self-sampling device which is less invasive and requires less sample than a blood test. They can be sent by mail to the hospital allowing everyone to get access easily to biological analysis even in remote area or for elderly patients with mobility problems. Their use in new contexts has been widespread: carrying out anti-doping tests, the research of biomarkers of galactosemia or detection of cancer. In this work, we propose to compare quantitative data and exploratory metabolomic data between DSB and serum. For quantitative data, we quantified 6 short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), 20 bile acids, 20 tryptophan intermediates and 8 organic acids from TCA cycle. Two trends emerge: the first one is that the majority of the serum information is found in DBS. The second one is that DBS brings complementary information not found in serum. Indeed, an overlay of the metabolic cards of serum and DBS highlights a wider metabolic coverage for DBS. These results make it possible to envisage the use of DBS in both quantitative and exploratory metabolomic analyses. However, building up a cohort can last several months or years, so it will be necessary to clearly define the impact of storage conditions (temperature, hygrometry and light exposure) as well as its lasting