Metabolomics: a new tool for the investigation of metabolic changes induced by cytomegalovirus

To date, cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most studied and characterized virus, however the current knowledge on the effect of the human CMV (HCMV) infection on global metabolism is still poorly understood. Metabolomics is a new approach based on the systematic study of the complete set of low molecular weight compounds, both endogenous and exogenous, found within a cell, tissue, biofluid or organism. The purpose of this review is to provide insight into the use of the metabolomic approach on the study of the impact of HCMV on the human metabolome. The results described in this work suggest that metabolomics could be a new tool for HCMV investigation.