Purpose of review: Recent advances in metabolomic tools now permit to characterize dysregulated metabolic pathways in various diseases associated with the identification of sensitive and specific early responding biomarkers that are critical both for the diagnosis of the type of insult as well as for the selection and evaluation of therapy.
Recent findings: This short review describes progresses made in analytical science and their applications in the field of glucose disorders. Recent studies focused mainly on type 2 diabetes both in human and animal models in order to validate early biomarkers and effects of drugs on disease progression. The potential of using the metabolomic approach was also demonstrated for diagnosing diabetic complications such as diabetic nephropathy.
Summary: In addition to its application in the discovery of disease biomarkers, metabolomics can contribute to the elucidation of pathophysiological mechanisms.