Single-Cell Lipidomics Using Analytical Flow LC-MS Characterizes the Response to Chemotherapy in Cultured Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Anal Chem. 2023 Oct 3;95(39):14727-14735. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02854. Epub 2023 Sep 19.

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate the development and first application of nanocapillary sampling followed by analytical flow liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for single-cell lipidomics. Around 260 lipids were tentatively identified in a single cell, demonstrating remarkable sensitivity. Human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PANC-1) treated with the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine can be distinguished from controls solely on the basis of their single-cell lipid profiles. Notably, the relative abundance of LPC(0:0/16:0) was significantly affected in gemcitabine-treated cells, in agreement with previous work in bulk. This work serves as a proof of concept that live cells can be sampled selectively and then characterized using automated and widely available analytical workflows, providing biologically relevant outputs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Gemcitabine
  • Humans
  • Lipidomics* / methods
  • Lipids / analysis
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Lipids
  • Gemcitabine