Lipidomic strategies to study structural and functional defects of ABC-transporters in cellular lipid trafficking

The majority of the human ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-transporters function in cellular lipid trafficking and in the regulation of membrane lipid composition associating their dysfunction with human disease phenotypes related to sterol, phospholipid and fatty acid homeostasis. Based on findings from monogenetic disorders, animal models, and in vitro systems, major clues on the expression, function and cellular localization of human ABC-transporters have been gained. Here we review novel lipidomic technologies including quantitative mRNA expression monitoring by realtime RT-PCR and DNA-microarrays, lipid mass spectrometry, cellular fluorescence imaging and flow cytometry as promising tools to further define regulatory networks, lipid species patterns and subcellular domains important for ABC-transporter-mediated lipid trafficking.