Oxylipin profiling for clinical research: Current status and future perspectives

16 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures.-- Under a Creative Commons licenseOxylipins are potent lipid mediators with increasing interest in clinical research. They are usually measured in systemic circulation and can provide a wealth of information regarding key biological processes such as inflammation, vascular tone, or blood coagulation. Although procedures still require harmonization to generate comparable oxylipin datasets, performing comprehensive profiling of circulating oxylipins in large studies is feasible and no longer restricted by technical barriers. However, it is essential to improve and facilitate the biological interpretation of complex oxylipin profiles to truly leverage their potential in clinical research. This requires regular updating of our knowledge about the metabolism and the mode of action of oxylipins, and consideration of all factors that may influence circulating oxylipin profiles independently of the studied disease or condition. This review aims to provide the readers with updated and necessary information regarding oxylipin metabolism, their different forms in systemic circulation, the current limitations in deducing oxylipin cellular effects from in vitro bioactivity studies, the biological and technical confounding factors needed to consider for a proper interpretation of oxylipin profilesThis research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectorsPeer reviewe

Angiogenesis / Oxidized phospholipids stimulate production of stem cell factor via NRF2dependent mechanisms

Receptor tyrosine kinase c-Kit and its ligand stem cell factor (SCF) regulate resident vascular wall cells and recruit circulating progenitors. We tested whether SCF may be induced by oxidized palmitoyl-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylcholine (OxPAPC) known to accumulate in atherosclerotic vessels. Gene expression analysis demonstrated OxPAPC-induced upregulation of SCF mRNA and protein in different types of endothelial cells (ECs). Elevated levels of SCF mRNA were observed in aortas of ApoE/ knockout mice. ECs produced biologically active SCF because conditioned medium from OxPAPC-treated cells stimulated activation (phosphorylation) of c-Kit in naïve ECs. Induction of SCF by OxPAPC was inhibited by knocking down transcription factor NRF2. Inhibition or stimulation of NRF2 by pharmacological or molecular tools induced corresponding changes in SCF expression. Finally, we observed decreased levels of SCF mRNA in aortas of NRF2 knockout mice. We characterize OxPLs as a novel pathology-associated stimulus inducing expression of SCF in endothelial cells. Furthermore, our data point to transcription factor NRF2 as a major mediator of OxPL-induced upregulation of SCF. This mechanism may represent one of the facets of pleiotropic action of NRF2 in vascular wall.(VLID)473560

Unbiased Identification of Proteins Covalently Modified by Complex Mixtures of Peroxidized Lipids Using a Combination of Electrophoretic Mobility Band Shift with Mass Spectrometry

Covalent modification of functionally important cell proteins by lipid oxidation products (LOPs) is a known mechanism initiating pathological consequences of oxidative stress. Identification of new proteins covalently modified by electrophilic lipids can be performed by a combination of chemical, immunological, and mass spectrometry-based methods, but requires prior knowledge either on the exact molecular structure of LOPs (e.g., 4-hydroxynonenal) or candidate protein targets. However, under the conditions of oxidative stress in vivo, a complex mixture of proteins (e.g., cytosolic proteome) reacts with a complex mixture of LOPs. Here we describe a method for detection of lipid-modified proteins that does not require an a priori knowledge on the chemical structure of LOPs or identity of target proteins. The method is based on the change of electrophoretic mobility of lipid-modified proteins, which is induced by conformational changes and cross-linking with other proteins. Abnormally migrating proteins are detected by mass spectrometry-based protein peptide sequencing. We applied this method to study effects of oxidized palmitoyl-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylcholine (OxPAPC) on endothelial cells. Several known, but also many new, OxPAPC-binding proteins were identified. We expect that this technically relatively simple method can be widely applied for label-free analysis of lipid-protein interactions in complex protein samples treated with different LOPs