Novel Biochemical Insights in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Neurosyphilis Based on a Metabonomics Study

Neurosyphilis is a chronic central nervous system infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum . Our aim was to study the metabolic profiling in the cerebrospinal fluid of neurosyphilis patients and identify specific potential biomarkers. Fifteen cerebrospinal fluid samples from neurosyphilis patients and 14 non-neurosyphilis samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer (LC–MS). The LC–MS data were preprocessed by supervised pattern recognition to obtain diagnostic models. Both orthogonal projections to a latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and a t test were used to obtain specific metabolites for neurosyphilis. LC–MS data showed that the metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from neurosyphilis are different from the non-neurosyphilis group. The OPLS-DA model parameters R 2 Y and Q 2 Y are both more than 0.7 and indicated a satisfactory diagnostic performance. Bilirubin, l -histidine, prostaglandin E2, alpha-kamlolenic acid, and butyryl- l -carnitine and palmitoyl- l -carnitine were identified as novel potential biomarkers for neurosyphilis. The metabolic study of CSF may provide a new way to explore the pathogenesis of neurosyphilis.