In order to discover such biomarkers researchers applied lipidomics analysis to blood plasma samples of 73 monozygotic twins in which only one of the twins was diagnosed with a form of multiple sclerosis (MS) – 243 distinct lipids were taken into account for further lipid data analysis.
The results revealed no differences in total lipid content between the twin sibling with multiple sclerosis (MS-twins) and the healthy twin sibling. However, on the molecular level, ether phosphatidylcholine lipids (PC O-), and ether phosphatidylethanolamine lipids (PE O-) were reduced in MS-twins.
PC O- and PE O- are both ether phospholipids, in which an ether bond attaches the fatty acid to the phospholipid instead of the more common ester bond. Ether phospholipids play an important role in inflammation and linked lipid signaling.
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#lipid #lipidomics #MultipleSclerosis #LipidMetabolism