Infection metallomics is a mass spectrometry (MS) platform we established based on the central concept that microbial metallophores are specific, sensitive, noninvasive, and promising biomarkers of invasive infectious diseases. Here we review the in vitro, in vivo, and clinical applications of metallophores from historical and functional perspectives, and identify under-studied and emerging application areas with high diagnostic potential for the post-COVID era. MS with isotope data filtering is fundamental to infection metallomics; it has been used to study the interplay between “frenemies” in hosts and to monitor the dynamic response of the microbiome to antibiotic and antimycotic therapies. During infection in critically ill patients, the hostile environment of the host's body activates secondary bacterial, mycobacterial, and fungal metabolism, leading to the production of metallophores that increase the pathogen's chance of survival in the host. MS can reveal the structures, stability, and threshold concentrations of these metal-containing microbial biomarkers of infection in humans and model organisms, and can discriminate invasive disease from benign colonization based on well-defined thresholds distinguishing proliferation from the colonization steady state.

中文翻译：

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后 COVID 时代重症监护的感染金属组学

感染金属组学是我们基于微生物金属载体是特异性、敏感、无创且有前途的侵袭性传染病生物标志物这一中心概念建立的质谱（MS）平台。在这里，我们从历史和功能的角度回顾了金属载体的体外、体内和临床应用，并确定了后 COVID 时代具有高诊断潜力的未充分研究和新兴应用领域。带同位素数据过滤的 MS 是感染金属组学的基础; 它已被用于研究宿主中“友敌”之间的相互作用，并监测微生物组对抗生素和抗真菌疗法的动态反应。在重症患者感染期间，宿主机体的恶劣环境会激活继发性细菌、分枝杆菌和真菌的新陈代谢，从而导致金属素的产生，从而增加病原体在宿主体内的存活机会。MS 可以揭示这些含金属微生物生物标志物在人类和模型生物体中的结构、稳定性和阈值浓度，并且可以根据定义明确的阈值区分增殖和定植稳定状态，从而区分侵袭性疾病和良性定植。