Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by the mutation of cholesterol-transporting proteins. In addition, early treatment is important for good prognosis of this disease because of the progressive neurodegeneration. However, the diagnosis of this disease is difficult due to a variety of clinical spectrum. Lysosphingomyelin-509, which is one of the most useful biomarkers for NPC, was applied for the rapid and easy detection of NPC. The fact that its chemical structure was unknown until recently implicates the unrevealed pathophysiology and molecular mechanisms of NPC. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the structure of lysosphingomyelin-509 by various mass spectrometric techniques. As our identification strategy, we adopted analytical and organic chemistry approaches to the serum of patients with NPC. Chemical derivatization and hydrogen abstraction dissociation-tandem mass spectrometry were used for the determination of function groups and partial structure, respectively. As a result, we revealed the exact structure of lysosphingomyelin-509 as N-acylated and O-phosphocholine adducted serine. Additionally, we found that a group of metabolites with N-acyl groups were increased considerably in the serum/plasma of patients with NPC as compared to that of other groups using targeted lipidomics analysis. Our techniques were useful for the identification of lysosphingomyelin-509.
Keywords: HAD–MS/MS; LC–MS/MS; N-acyl-phospholipids; Niemann–Pick disease type C; biomarkers; chemical derivatization; chemical diagnosis; identification; lysosphingomyelin-509; structural determination.