HUBMet: An integrative database and analytical platform for human blood metabolites and metabolite-protein associations

Abstract

Understanding human blood metabolites is essential for deciphering systemic physiology and disease mechanisms, yet remains challenging due to diverse origins and dynamic regulation. In this study, we developed HUBMet (https://hubmet.app.bio-it.tech/home), an open-access web server that includes 3,950 metabolites and 129,814 metabolite-protein associations, with four analytical modules: Over-Representation Analysis (ORA) for enrichment analysis; Metabolite Set Enrichment Analysis (MSEA) for quantitative data analysis; Tissue Specificity Analysis (TSA) for assessing metabolite-tissue relevance; Metabolite-Protein Network Analysis (MPNet) for identifying key metabolite-protein associations and functional modules. HUBMets utility is demonstrated through a COVID-19 case study revealing metabolic signatures associated with disease severity.