It is a research hotspot to study the changes of metabolites and metabolic pathways in the process of coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) by metabonomics and to explore its pathogenesis.

To study the change of metabolites in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with CWP and explore the metabolic regulation mechanism of the disease.

Patients with CWP who met the national diagnostic criteria according to Diagnosis of occupational pneumoconiosis (GBZ 70-2015) and underwent massive whole lung lavage were selected as the case group, and patients with tracheostenosis who underwent bronchoscopy were selected as the control group. BALF samples were collected from the cases and the controls. After filtering out large particles and mucus, the supernatant was stored in a −80 ℃ refrigerator. The samples were detected and analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry after adding extraction solution, cold bath ultrasonication, and high-speed centrifugation, and the metabolic profiles and related data of CWP patients were obtained. The differential metabolites related to the occurrence and development of CWP were screened by multiple statistical analysis; furthermore, we searched the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database for potential metabolic pathways involved in the progression.

There was no significant difference in the general conditions of the subjects, such as weight, height, age, and length of service among the stage I group, the stage II group, the stage III group, and the control group (P˃0.05). When comparing the CWP stage I group with the control group, 48 differential metabolites were screened out, among which 14 were up-regulated and 34 were down-regulated. A total of 66 differential metabolites were screened out between the patients with CWP stage II and the controls, 14 up-regulated and 52 down-regulated differential metabolites. Compared with the control group, 63 differential metabolites were screened out in the patients with CWP stage III, including 11 up-regulated and 52 down-regulated differential metabolites. There were 36 differential metabolites that may be related to the occurrence of CWP, among which 11 differential metabolites were up-regulated, and 25 were down-regulated. Four significant differential metabolic pathways were identified through KEGG database query: linoleic acid metabolic pathway, alanine metabolic pathway, sphingolipid metabolic pathway, and glycerophospholipid metabolic pathway.

The metabolomic study of BALF show that there are 36 different metabolites in the occurrence and development of CWP, mainly associating with linoleic acid metabolism, alanine metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways.