Chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) is a group of airway diseases, previously known as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The heterogeneity of COLD does not allow early diagnosis and leads to increased morbidity and mortality. The increasing number of COLD incidences stresses the need for precision medicine approaches that are specific to the patient. Metabolomics is an emerging technology that allows for the discrimination of metabolic changes in the cell as a result of environmental factors and specific genetic background. Thus, quantification of metabolites in human biofluids can provide insights into the metabolic state of the individual in real time and unravel the presence of, or predisposition to, a disease. In this article, the advantages of and potential barriers to putting metabolomics into clinical practice for COLD are discussed. Today, metabolomics is mostly lab-based, and research studies with novel COLD-specific biomarkers are continuously being published. Several obstacles in the research and the market field hamper the translation of these data into clinical practice. However, technological and computational advances will facilitate the clinical interpretation of data and provide healthcare professionals with the tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat COLD with precision in the coming decades.

中文翻译：

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慢性阻塞性肺疾病的代谢指纹：新的诊断视角。

慢性阻塞性肺病（COLD）是一组气道疾病，以前称为肺气肿和慢性支气管炎。感冒的异质性不允许早期诊断，并导致发病率和死亡率增加。感冒发病率的增加强调需要针对患者的精准医疗方法。代谢组学是一项新兴技术，可以区分环境因素和特定遗传背景导致的细胞代谢变化。因此，人体生物体液中代谢物的定量可以实时了解个体的代谢状态，并揭示疾病的存在或易感性。本文讨论了将代谢组学应用于感冒临床实践的优点和潜在障碍。如今，代谢组学主要以实验室为基础，并且针对新型 COLD 特异性生物标志物的研究不断发表。研究和市场领域的一些障碍阻碍了这些数据转化为临床实践。然而，技术和计算的进步将促进数据的临床解释，并为医疗保健专业人员提供在未来几十年内精确预防、诊断和治疗感冒的工具。