Lipidomic analysis of phospholipids from human mammary epithelial and breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

Alterations of phospholipid (PL) profiles have been associated to disease and specific lipids may be involved in the onset and evolution of cancer; yet, analysis of PL profiles using mass spectrometry (MS) in breast cancer cells is a novel approach. Previously, we reported a lipidomic analysis of PLs from mouse mammary epithelial and breast cancer cells using off-line thin layer chromatography (TLC)-MS, where several changes in PL profile were found to be associated with the degree of malignancy of cells. In the present study, lipidomic analysis has been extended to human mammary epithelial cells and breast cancer cell lines (MCF10A, T47-D, and MDA-MB-231), using TLC-MS, validated by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-MS. Differences in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content relative to total amount of PLs was highest in non-malignant cells while phosphatidic acid was present with highest relative abundance in metastatic cells. In addition, the following differences in PL molecular species associated to cancer phenotype, metastatic potential, and cell morphology were found: higher levels of alkylacyl PCs and phosphatidylinositol (PI; 22:5/18:0) were detected in migratory cells, epithelial cells had less unsaturated fatty acyl chains and shorter aliphatic tails in PE and sphingomyelin classes, while PI (18:0/18:1) was lowest in non-malignant cells compared to cancer cells. To date, information about PL changes in cancer progression is scarce, therefore results presented in this work will be useful as a starting point to define possible PLs with prospective as biomarkers and disclose metabolic pathways with potential for cancer therapy.

Relevance of dietary glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids to human health

“…Indeed, a recent study by Abd El Baky et al [69] reported in vitro anti-cancer activities in breast cancer MCF-7 cells treated with algal PL. Accordingly, Doria et al [70] carried out a lipidomic study of several breast cancer cell lines (MCF10A, T47-D, and MDA-MB-231) during cancer development. The potential repercussion of these data is the use of PLs' FAs as biomarkers of breast cancer and as potential targets for treatment, pending appropriate investigations.…”

Advances in Lipidomics for Cancer Biomarkers Discovery

“…Non-malignant cells showed the highest differences in PE content, relative to total amount of PLs, whereas PA presented highest relative abundance in metastatic cells. In addition, higher levels of PCs and PI 22:5/18:0 were found in migratory cells, with metastatic ability [58]. Recently, Kim et al performed a comprehensive and comparative metabolomic and lipidomic analysis of breast cancer cell lines with different degrees of invasiveness (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells) using GC-MS and direct infusion MS.…”

LXR activation by GW3965 alters fat tissue distribution and adipose tissue inflammation in ob/ob female mice

“…PLs were extracted with chloroform/methanol (2:1, v/v) for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Identifi cation of molecular structure was carried out by tandem MS (MS/MS) analysis as previously described ( 33 ). Analysis of TG was carried out by mass spectrometry using ESI ionization obtained in an electrospray Q-ToF 2 (Micromass) as follows: 3 kV electrospray voltage in the positive mode with a 30 V cone voltage.…”