Lipomic profiling in drug discovery, development and clinical trial evaluation.

Dysregulation of lipid metabolism plays a crucial role in the progression of many diseases and in adverse drug response. Changes in lipid metabolism leading to disease are often not detected using biomarker analyses because these changes are defined by a subtle, long-term shift in the concentrations of many metabolites simultaneously. The application of the principals of 'omics to the study of lipids, which include the development of comprehensive, high-throughput assays and centralized reference databases, is beginning to produce an integrated and actionable knowledge of lipids and their relationship to pathology. These analytical tools and the assembled knowledge will enable the discovery, development and testing of drugs to be conducted with a deeper knowledge of their effects on lipid metabolism.