Increased Levels of Sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) in Plasma of Metabolic Syndrome Patients

PLoS One. 2015 Oct 14;10(10):e0140683. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140683. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Recent developments in lipid mass spectrometry enable extensive lipid class and species analysis in metabolic disorders such as diabesity and metabolic syndrome. The minor plasma lipid class sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) was identified as a ligand for lipid sensitive G-protein coupled receptors playing a key role in cell growth, differentiation, motility, calcium signaling, tissue remodeling, vascular diseases and cancer. However, information about its role in diabesity patients is sparse. In this study, we analyzed plasma lipid species in patients at risk for diabesity and the metabolic syndrome and compared them with healthy controls. Our data show that SPC is significantly increased in plasma samples from metabolic syndrome patients but not in plasma from patients at risk for diabesity. Detailed SPC species analysis showed that the observed increase is due to a significant increase in all detected SPC subspecies. Moreover, a strong positive correlation is observed between total SPC and individual SPC species with both body mass index and the acute phase low grade inflammation marker soluble CD163 (sCD163). Collectively, our study provides new information on SPC plasma levels in metabolic syndrome and suggests new avenues for investigation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / blood
  • Lipids / blood
  • Lysophospholipids / blood
  • Male
  • Metabolic Syndrome / blood*
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity / blood
  • Phosphorylcholine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Phosphorylcholine / blood
  • Risk Factors
  • Sphingosine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Sphingosine / blood
  • Tetraspanin 30 / blood

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Lipids
  • Lysophospholipids
  • Tetraspanin 30
  • sphingosine phosphorylcholine
  • Phosphorylcholine
  • sphingosine 1-phosphate
  • Sphingosine

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement n° 202272, IP-Project ‘LipidomicNet’.