Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 117597, Singapore.
Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 117597, Singapore; Department of Pharmacology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2018 Oct 7;504(3):602-607. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.04.075. Epub 2018 Apr 19.
It has been known for decades that the regulation of sphingolipids (SLs) is essential for the proper function of many cellular processes. However, a complete understanding of these processes has been complicated by the structural diversity of these lipids. A well-characterized metabolic pathway is responsible for homeostatic maintenance of hundreds of distinct SL species. This pathway is perturbed in a number of pathological processes, resulting in derangement of the "sphingolipidome." Recently, advances in mass spectrometry (MS) techniques have made it possible to characterize the sphingolipidome in large-scale clinical studies, allowing for the identification of specific SL molecules that mediate pathological processes and/or may serve as biomarkers. This manuscript provides an overview of the functions of SLs, and reviews previous studies that have used MS techniques to identify changes to the sphingolipidome in non-metabolic diseases.
几十年来，人们已经知道鞘脂类（SLs）的调节对于许多细胞过程的正常功能至关重要。然而，由于这些脂质的结构多样性，对这些过程的全面了解变得复杂。一个特征明确的代谢途径负责维持数百种不同 SL 物种的内稳态。该途径在许多病理过程中受到干扰，导致“鞘脂组”失调。最近，质谱（MS）技术的进步使得在大规模临床研究中对鞘脂组进行特征描述成为可能，从而可以鉴定出介导病理过程的特定 SL 分子，或者这些分子可以作为生物标志物。本文概述了 SL 的功能，并回顾了以前使用 MS 技术鉴定非代谢性疾病中鞘脂组变化的研究。
