Identification of multiple plasma lipids as diagnostic biomarkers of hypercholesterolemia and the underlying mechanisms based on pseudo‐targeted lipidomics

Rationale Hypercholesterolemia is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and death. This study performed pseudo‐targeted lipidomics to identify differentially expressed plasma lipids in hypercholesterolemia, to provide a scientific basis for the diagnosis and pathogenesis of hypercholesterolemia. Methods Pseudo‐targeted lipidomic analyses of plasma lipids from 20 patients with hypercholesterolemia and 20 normal control subjects were performed using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Differentially expressed lipids were identified by principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to identify differentially expressed lipids with high diagnostic value. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database was used to identify enriched metabolic pathways. Results We identified 13 differentially expressed lipids in hypercholesterolemia using variable importance of projection > 1 and p