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Blood Sphingolipids in Homeostasis and Pathobiology

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Sphingolipids and Metabolic Disease

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 721))

Abstract

Sphingolipids have emerged as key signaling molecules involved in the regulation of a variety of cellular functions including cell growth and differentiation, proliferation and apoptotic cell death. Sphingolipids in blood constitute part of the circulating lipoprotein particles (HDL, LDL and VLDL), carried by serum albumin and also present in blood cells and platelets. Recent lipidomic and proteomic studies of plasma lipoproteins have provided intriguing data concerning the protein and lipid composition of lipoproteins in the context of disease. Sphingolipids have been implicated in several diseases such as cancer, obesity, atherosclerosis and sphingolipidoses; however, efforts addressing blood sphingolipidomics are still limited. The development of methods to determine levels of circulating bioactive sphingolipids in humans and validation of these methods to be a routine clinical laboratory test could be a pioneering approach to diagnose disease in the population. This approach would probably evolve to be analogous in implication to determining “good” and “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels in lipoprotein classes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

    Samar M. Hammad

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, and Ralph H. Johnson Veteran’s Administration, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

    L. Ashley Cowart PhD

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Hammad, S.M. (2011). Blood Sphingolipids in Homeostasis and Pathobiology. In: Cowart, L.A. (eds) Sphingolipids and Metabolic Disease. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 721. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0650-1_4

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