LC/MS based untargeted lipidomics reveals lipid signatures of Non-Puerperal Mastitis

Background: Non-Puerperal Mastitis (NPM) is a type of disease that occurs during non-lactation accompanied by redness, swelling, heat and pain which is easily confused with breast cancer. The etiology of NPM is not yet clear. There is growing evidence from research showing that lipid metabolism may play an important role in NPM. This study aimed to use lipidomics to provide evidence for the etiology and potential therapeutic approaches for NPM. Method: Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS)-based untargeted lipidomics analysis combined with multivariate statistics were performed on investigating the NPM lipid change in breast tissue. Results: : The results revealed significant differences in lipidomics profiles and a total of 16 subclasses with 14,012 different lipids were identified in positive and negative ion modes. Among these lipids, Triradylcglycerols (TAGs), Glycerophosphoethanolamines (PEs) and Glycerophosphoglycerophosphoglycerols (CLs)are top three lipid components between the NPM and control groups. Subsequently, 35 significantly different lipid metabolites were screened as potential biomarkers, such as 15(S)-Hydroxyeicosatrienoic acid, Lipoxin A4 (LXA4), Lipoxin B4 (LXB4) and LysoPC(16:0), and they showed good diagnostic performance. Detailed pathway analysis revealed that these dysregulated lipids are closely related to arachidonic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism. Conclusions: : This study showed that NPM patients' breast tissue exhibited altered lipid groups. In addition, the lipid metabolites screened and the pathways identified in this study may be potential targets for future studies of the pathogenesis of NPM. Trial registration: Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Number: 2019-702-57; Date: July 2019).