Lipidomics: New approaches to the studies of cell signaling and prospects of use in medicine

Abstract

A new modern stage in the development of lipid biochemistry is presented: lipidomics, which emerged on the basic of new highly sensitive fractionation methods, primarily, mass spectroscopy. Lipidomics is defined mainly as systemic evaluation of all molecular types of lipids in an object, their cell functions, and molecules with which they react. Lipidomic approaches identifying picomole levels of individual lipids in combination with modern genome technology provide detailed information about the involvement of minor phospholipids in the cell signaling processes. Brief data on the functions of lysophospholipids as second messengers of signal transfer, their effects on cell processes, and possible involvement in the pathogenesis of some diseases are presented. It is expected that introduction of lipidomics in biomedical studies will promote the detection of targets for new drugs and development of new diagnostic tests.

Cellular Membranes and Lipid-Binding Domains as Attractive Targets for Drug Development

“…However, progress in our understanding of the membrane binding mechanisms of peripheral proteins has been substantial over the past decade thanks to rapid progress in bioinformatics, computational biology, in vitro biophysical studies, structural biology, and microscopic cell imaging. Furthermore, the advent of proteomics [35] and lipidomics [7–9] has greatly increased our awareness of the large number of molecular targets in a cell membrane that have potential therapeutic value and should only increase our knowledge of targeting events in and on membranes. Thus, the future research on lipid-protein interactions will entail only more interdisciplinary comprehensive studies of both computational predictions and validations of these forecasts.…”

“…Thus, a tactful approach to understanding and targeting these interactions can lead to a generation of molecules to promote or antagonize these interactions. The rapidly advancing fields of proteomics [35] and lipidomics [7–9] should help discover and hypothesize means of targeting interactions in and on membranes in a therapeutic fashion. With this in mind, the below sections should serve as summary of general mechanisms of lipid-binding as well as describe subtle differences in mechanisms that can be exploited in disrupting or inducing the lipid-binding.…”

“…Interdisciplinary research during the last decade including: biophysics, bioinformatics, chemistry and more recently lipidomics [7–9] have increased the publicity of biomembranes. These fields of work have unveiled the expanding number of enzymes responsible for lipid metabolism and trafficking, which generate distinct lipid compositions of membrane organelles in a spatial and temporal manner.…”

Lipidomics analysis based on liquid chromatography mass spectrometry for hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

“…Lipidomics, defined as the complete quantitative and molecular determination of lipid molecules isolated from biological samples, is a particular component of the metabolome [7]. Lipids are not only components of cell membranes but are also involved in signal transduction [8,9].…”

Statistical Analysis of the Processes Controlling Choline and Ethanolamine Glycerophospholipid Molecular Species Composition

“…The cellular lipidome is comprised of diverse classes of sphingolipids, phospholipids, glycerolipids, sterol lipids, and lipid metabolites, whose molecular species coordinate biomembrane structure, intra- and extra-cellular communication, metabolic efficiency, and signaling cascades that are critical for cellular functionality in development and disease [1], [2]. Identification and quantification of thousands of lipid molecular species, including regioisomers, are now possible due to advances in soft ionization mass spectrometry as well as novel chemical strategies [3]–[6].…”