Metabolomics reveals the metabolic characteristics of bullous pemphigoid

Background : Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a life-threatening chronic relapsing autoimmune blistering disease. Recently, metabolomics research has been widely applied to autoimmune skin diseases.This research aims to investigate the differential metabolites in the plasma of BP patients compared to healthy individuals and to identify the metabolic pathways enriched in BP, thereby providing new insights into the pathogenesis of BP. Methods : We collected plasma samples from 32 BP patients and 35 healthy controls, using untargeted metabolomics to Identify differential metabolites, and their metabolic and signal transduction pathways were determined through KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Results : Analysis identified 27 different metabolites between BP and normal groups. Significant changes in metabolite levels included steroids, D-Sorbitol, fatty acids, benzenes and phenols, and Prenol lipids. Steroids were uniformly upregulated, while fatty acids were uniformly downregulated. KEGG pathway analysis identified 15 significantly different pathways (p < 0.05) between the BP and normal group, including amino acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways. Conclusion : This study utilized metabolomics analysis to reveal the differences in plasma metabolites and characteristic metabolic pathways between BP patients and healthy controls. These findings provide new insights into the pathogenesis of BP and may inform the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of the disease.