Journal Article
Lipid and metabolite correlation networks specific to clinical and biochemical covariate show differences associated with sexual dimorphism in a cohort of nonagenarians
Francesca Di Cesare; Leonardo Tenori; Gaia Meoni; Anna Maria Gori; Rossella Marcucci; Betti Giusti; Raffaele Molino-Lova; Claudio Macchi; Silvia Pancani; Claudio Luchinat; Edoardo Saccenti
GeroScience · Vol. 44, Issue 2 · pp. 1109-1128 · 2022
Abstract
This study defines and estimates the metabolite-lipidic component association networks constructed from an array of 20 metabolites and 114 lipids identified and quantified via NMR spectroscopy in the serum of a cohort of 355 Italian nonagenarians and ultra-nonagenarian. Metabolite-lipid association networks were built for men and women and related to an array of 101 clinical and biochemical parameters, including the presence of diseases, bio-humoral parameters, familiarity diseases, drugs treatments, and risk factors. Different connectivity patterns were observed in lipids, branched chains amino acids, alanine, and ketone bodies, suggesting their association with the sex-related and sex-clinical condition-related intrinsic metabolic changes. Furthermore, our results demonstrate, using a holistic system biology approach, that the characterization of metabolic structures and their dynamic inter-connections is a promising tool to shed light on the dimorphic pathophysiological mechanisms of aging at the molecular level.