Quantitative alterations of phospholipids in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with breast and cervical cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the quantitative changes of absolute and relative amounts of diverse phospholipids in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in healthy volunteers and patients with breast(BC) and cervical cancer(CC). For this purpose, PLs were analyzed using a lipidomic approach. In brief, PLs were extracted using Bligh and Dyer method, followed by a separation of PL classes by thin layer chromatography, lipid quantification was done using phosphorus assay. In thin-layer chromatography eight fractions of PLs were obtained: lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), sphingomyelin (SPM), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidic acid (PA), diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG). Our results reveal that the all the eight PLs quantified in this study were altered in cancer patient compared to healthy individuals. It is important that the LPC, PC, PE, levels in PBMC membrane of patients with cancer were 2.4, 1.4, 1.3 times higher than those of PBMC membrane of healthy individuals. The PI, PS, PA levels in 1.1, 2.3, 1.3 times lower compared to control group. These quantitative changes in PL components indicate a possible inhibition of signaling pathways in cancer. Notably, these results were identical with those observed chronic lymphoid leukemia studied earlier. Therefore we conclude that quantitative alterations of PLs have been associated to disease and specific PLs may be involved in the onset and evolution of cancer. These data will be useful as a starting point to define possible PLs as prospective biomarkers as well as for discovery of new personalized modes for disease treatment.