Assessing Glycosphingolipid Profiles in Human Health and Disease Using Non-Imaging MALDI Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are a glycolipid subtype which plays vital roles in numerous biological processes, cell–cell interactions, as well as oncogenesis and ontogenesis. They are ubiquitous molecules found mostly in cell membranes. Abnormal expression of GSLs as well as altered molecular structure have been linked with progression of cancer and metastasis and are involved in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative, autoimmune, and infectious diseases as well as inherited enzyme defects—glycosphingolipidoses. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) plays a leading role in analyzing and characterizing different GSLs, and thus can help to distinguish altered GSL patterns. This review offers insights into the benefits and limitations when using MALDI MS in this field of lipidomic research, with an emphasis on which are the optimal matrices in analyzing GSLs from different tissues (normal and pathological) as well as highlighting GSLs’ particular profiles in various cell cultures, and normal and pathological human tissues obtained by MALDI non-imaging MS (non-IMS). These findings can have implications in further understanding the role of altered GSL expression in various pathological conditions and could be a target for future therapies.