Researchers compared blood samples from people who got kidney injury after heart surgery with those who didn’t. They found many proteins and fats that were different between the groups, and some of these were linked to pathways like hormone signaling (including the GnRH pathway), inflammation, and fat metabolism. While this helps scientists understand the injury better, it doesn’t give a clear, usable tip for everyday health hacking.

This study aimed to identify potential serum biomarkers and explore associated signaling pathways involved in cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) by integrating proteomic and lipidomic analyses. A total of 34 patients were enrolled, including 17 CSA-AKI patients and 17 controls. Untargeted lipidomic analysis was performed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) approach. Proteomics analysis was conducted using data-independent acquisition-based LC-MS/MS detection. The integration of proteomics and lipidomics was evaluated using statistical and bioinformatics methods. The two groups had different serum protein and lipid profiles, which included 185 differentially expressed proteins and 65 differentially expressed lipids. The protein and lipid molecules were enriched in biologic pathway implicated in biosynthesis of arachidonic acid metabolism, gonadotropin-releasing hormone signaling pathway, leukocyte trans endothelial migration, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Correlation analysis revealed that 4 proteins were positively correlated with 21 lipids, whereas 7 proteins were negatively correlated with the 21 lipids. These results suggested that significantly altered proteins and lipids may be involved in the early stage of CSA-AKI and could serve as potentially promising markers. The association between proteins and lipid molecules and the underlying signaling pathways may elucidate the pathogenesis of CSA-AKI.