# Protein-enhanced enteral nutrition and metabolomics in critically ill trauma and surgical patients

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $380,440

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Our previous observations indicate that trauma victims who require artificial nutrition: 1) are likely to be
undernourished during the first week after injury, 2) will often require intensive and costly support for organ
failure, and 3) the amount of protein received may be an important determinant of clinical outcomes. A recent
summit, convening experts concluded that we must study more thoroughly whether more protein is beneficial
to critically ill patients. Determining whether and how to supplement protein intake is a critical unmet
need.
 We have observed changes in response to injury and nutritional support that reflect suppression of
protein metabolism in response to injury and a restoration of protein synthesis in response to enteral nutrition.
In our studies, citrulline, an intermediate in nitrogen metabolism, stood out in our analyses as responsive to
trauma and to enteral nutritional support. Citrulline is potentially relevant to a number of metabolic pathways
related to protein synthesis which are important in critical illness and recovery and for these reasons, is the
focus of two of our hypotheses; however, we have the opportunity to study a broad range of metabolites.
 We propose to recruit subjects who are enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of high dose enteral
protein supplementation compared to subjects treated with standard enteral nutrition as part of an established,
evidence-based approach to care. We will apply metabolomics and analytic methods to help us better
understand the metabolic response to injury, and to understand how protein and other nutrients are
metabolized in critically ill surgical patients and trauma victims. Our studies are innovative through the
application of targeted metabolomic measurements of 200 circulating metabolic substrates and end-products,
representing ~25 metabolic pathways in critically ill trauma and surgical patients over their stay in the intensive
care unit. Our proposed aims are: (1) To determine the effects of early enteral protein supplementation on
circulating markers of protein metabolism, (2) To determine whether we can predict urine nitrogen excretion
using a combination of demographic, clinical and metabolite biomarkers; enabling us to more precisely
prescribe enteral protein.
 Standard approaches to artificial nutritional support may not capture all the important differences that
could be addressed through precision nutritional support. Our objective is to move us closer to this goal.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017298
- **Project number:** 5R01GM127790-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** GRANT E O'KEEFE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $380,440
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-18 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017298

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017298, Protein-enhanced enteral nutrition and metabolomics in critically ill trauma and surgical patients (5R01GM127790-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017298. Licensed CC0.

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