Definitive profiling of plasma bile acids as potential biomarkers for human liver diseases using UPLC–HRMS

Aim: Investigation of bile acids (BAs) as biomarkers for liver and kidney diseases has gained momentum recently to fulfill the needs in drug development and clinical practice, but a thorough and rapid profiling of BAs in human plasma has been hindered by the large interindividual variability and lack of selective methods. Results: A selective and efficient UPLC-high resolution mass spectrometry method was developed and fully validated for the definitive profiling of 26 BAs in human plasma with a curve rage of 1–1000 ng/ml and a runtime of 7.2 min. Conclusion: Four BA combinations with good sensitivity and specificity show potential biomarker applications...