Changes in plasma phospholipid metabolism are associated with clinical manifestations of systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease with fibrosis of the skin and/or internal organs, causing a decrease in quality of life and survival. There is no causative therapy, and the pathophysiology of the SSc remains unclear. Studies showed that lipid metabolism was relevant for autoimmune diseases, but little is known about the role of lipids in SSc. In the present study, we sought to explore the phospholipid profile of SSc by using the lipidomics approach. We also aimed to analyze lipidomics results for different clinical manifestations of SSc. Experiments were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for the lipidomic profiling of plasma samples from patients with SSc. Our study showed, for the first time, significant changes in the level of phospholipids such as plasmalogens and sphingomyelins from the plasma of SSc patients as compared to controls. Phosphatidylcholine plasmalogens species and sphingomyelins were significantly increased in SSc patients as compared to controls. Our results also demonstrated a significant association of changes in the metabolism of phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine plasmalogens species and sphingomyelins) with different clinical manifestations of SSc. Further lipidomic studies might lead to the detection of lipids as new biomarkers or therapeutic targets of SSc.