Harnessing metabolomics and proteomics in a clinical trial for pulmonary arterial hypertension: insights from post-hoc analysis of the REHAB-PH trial

TL;DR

This study explores how combining metabolomics and proteomics in a clinical trial can help understand drug effects and molecular changes in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating multi-omics into clinical trials to reveal treatment-related molecular biology.

Findings

Baseline multi-omic profiles were similar between treatment groups, indicating good randomisation.

Famotidine treatment was associated with significant changes in 191 proteomic pathways.

No significant metabolomic changes were observed after multiple-testing correction.

Abstract

The significant clinical and molecular heterogeneity of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) poses challenges in identifying effective therapies. Advanced multidimensional profiling offers an opportunity to capture molecular responses and assess biomarker stability, yet its application in randomised trials remains limited.

We evaluated the multi-omic profiles of participants with PAH in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial of famotidine. Plasma metabolomic and proteomic profiling was performed at enrolment and 24 weeks. Baseline profiles were compared between treatment arms to assess randomisation balance. Intraclass correlation coefficients quantified within-subject stability over time. Linear regression models adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and PAH aetiology evaluated famotidine's molecular effects. False discovery rate was controlled for multiple comparisons.

For the 79 participants, baseline multi-omic profiles were similar between groups. At 24 weeks, 34 and 37 participants remained in the famotidine and placebo groups respectively. The placebo group showed high molecular stability, while greater variability was observed in the famotidine group. Famotidine treatment was associated with significant changes across 191 proteomic pathways (q-value <0.05), but no metabolomic changes remained significant after multiple-testing correction.

Integrating multi-omics into a prospective clinical trial is feasible and yields stable longitudinal profiles in the absence of intervention. While famotidine did not yield clinical benefit, associated proteomic changes illustrate how molecular profiling can reveal treatment-related biology and inform future trial design. These findings highlight the broader utility of multi-omics for evaluating drug responses and identifying molecular endotypes in PAH and beyond.

10.13039/100000002US National Institutes of Health.

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