REVIEW: Structural and Functional Aspects of Nuclear Lipids in Normal and Tumor Cells

V. A. Struchkov^* and N. B. Strazhevskaya

Blokhin Cancer Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kashirskoe Shosse 24, Moscow, 115478 Russia; fax: (7-095) 324-6026; E-mail: abs@dialup.ptt.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received April 22, 1999; Revision received January 14, 2000

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This review summarizes available data on the structural and functional role of neutral lipids and phospholipids in normal and tumor eukaryotic cells. The role of acidic phospholipids (cardiolipin, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylglycerol) in regulation of activities of DNA- and RNA-polymerases, DNA-topoisomerases I and II, DNA-methylases, and replication initiation proteins (dnaA and T-antigen) is discussed. The role of sphingolipids is emphasized considering, on one hand, the involvement of sphingosines in signal transduction, chromatin association-dissociation, and regulation of DNA and RNA synthesis and protein kinase C and, on the other hand, participation of ceramides and dihydroceramides in apoptosis. The possible role of sphingomyelin, sphingosine, cardiolipin, and diglycerides in the contacts of DNA loops with nuclear matrix is analyzed. Lipid hormones indirectly influence supercoiled DNA conformation; the effect of hormones on metabolism of phospholipids and neutral lipids in chromatin and nuclear matrix is reviewed. Characteristics of lipid composition in chromatin and nuclear matrix of the tumor cells are discussed.

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KEY WORDS: lipids of chromosomes, lipids of chromatin, lipids of nuclear matrix, tumor cells, transcription, replication, apoptosis, hormones

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