Multi-Omics Explained

What multi-omics is

"Omics" fields measure whole sets of molecules at once. Genomics looks at DNA, transcriptomics at RNA, proteomics at proteins and metabolomics at small metabolic molecules. Multi-omics means combining two or more of these layers in the same people. A review in Genome Biology says that, compared with studies of a single omics type, multi-omics offers the opportunity to understand the flow of information that underlies disease. [1] The field is a research method. It is not a test, a diagnosis or a treatment.

Evidence label used here: established for the research approach, promising but limited for early findings, insufficient evidence and marketing claim for consumer packages. See How We Label Evidence in Specialty Topics.

Why combine layers

Each layer shows only part of the picture. A review in Nature Reviews Genetics notes that each technology individually cannot capture the entire biological complexity of most human diseases, and that integrating several is emerging as a way to get a more comprehensive view. [2] The same review gives examples of integration used to understand, diagnose and inform treatment of rare and common diseases, cancer and transplant biology, and discusses technical and other challenges to clinical implementation. [2] Layer-by-layer background is in Genomics Explained, Epigenetics Explained and Transcriptomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics.

An example of what a study looks like

In one prospective cohort of 109 people, enriched for risk of type 2 diabetes, participants gave samples quarterly for up to 8 years (median 2.8 years) for profiling that included genome, immunome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, microbiome and wearable monitoring. [3] The authors reported more than 67 "clinically actionable health discoveries" and prediction models for insulin resistance, and said most participants made diet and exercise changes. [3]

How to read this:

• It had no comparison group, so it cannot show that profiling improved health.
• The group was small and enriched for diabetes risk, so results may not apply to everyone.
• "Actionable" in this setting describes findings the researchers judged worth acting on, not outcomes that were later proven better.
• Behavior change is not a clinical outcome.

Label: promising but limited, as a single exploratory cohort.

What multi-omics is not

• Not proof that a product works. A change across many markers is still a collection of biomarker changes. See Biomarkers vs Clinical Outcomes.
• Not automatically more accurate. More data does not guarantee a better prediction. Methods need testing in new groups; see Predictive Accuracy and External Validation.
• Not a personalized treatment generator. This library does not offer one.

Consumer multi-omics

Companies sell "multi-omics wellness" packages. These are covered in Multi-Omics Wellness Packages and Multi-Omics Test Panels. Proper evidence not found, among the sources read for this page, of randomized trials showing that routine multi-omics profiling in healthy people improves long-term health. What was checked: peer-reviewed reviews of omics integration, a PubMed search for trials of multi-omics profiling in healthy people and the longitudinal cohort above, none of which tested that question.

Relationship to other topics

Aging-clock tests that use DNA methylation and other biomarkers are evaluated in the Longevity library; see Biomarkers and Biological Age Tests. Individual gene and biomarker records live in the Research Library.