Gigin Lin1, Dow-Mu Koh1, Simon P. Robinson1, Martin O. Leach1, Yuen-Li Chung1
1CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom
The intracellular storage and utilization of lipids are critical for cancer cells to maintain energy homeostasis, which is shown to relate to autophagy. In this study, we observed a unique change of lipid profile resulting from drug-induced autophagy. The lipid profile of autophagy shares some common changes with apoptosis, such as increased levels of fatty acids, triacylglycerol and sphingomyelin, which differentiates responsive cell lines from the non-responsive group. The increases of unsaturated fatty acids and phosphatidylcholine could further distinguish autophagy from early stage of apoptosis.