- Rubtsova, Varvara I;
- Chun, Yujin;
- Kim, Joohwan;
- Ramirez, Cuauhtemoc B;
- Jung, Sunhee;
- Choi, Wonsuk;
- Kelly, Miranda E;
- Lopez, Miranda L;
- Cassidy, Elizabeth;
- Rushing, Gabrielle;
- Aguiar, Dean J;
- Lau, Wei Ling;
- Ahdoot, Rebecca S;
- Smith, Moyra;
- Edinger, Aimee L;
- Lee, Sang-Guk;
- Jang, Cholsoon;
- Lee, Gina
Patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) develop multi-organ disease manifestations, with kidney angiomyolipomas (AML) and cysts being one of the most common and deadly. Early and regular AML/cyst detection and monitoring are vital to lower TSC patient morbidity and mortality. However, the current standard of care involves imaging-based methods that are not designed for rapid screening, posing challenges for early detection. To identify potential diagnostic screening biomarkers of AML/cysts, we performed global untargeted metabolomics in blood samples from 283 kidney AML/cyst-positive or -negative TSC patients using mass spectrometry. We identified 7 highly sensitive chemical features, including octanoic acid, that predict kidney AML/cysts in TSC patients. Patients with elevated octanoic acid have lower levels of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), suggesting that dysregulated peroxisome activity leads to overproduction of octanoic acid via VLCFA oxidation. These data highlight AML/cysts blood biomarkers for TSC patients and offers valuable metabolic insights into the disease.