Comparative investigation of sphingoid bases and fatty acids in ceramides and sphingomyelins from human ovarian malignant tumors and normal ovary.

Fatty acid and sphingoid base compositions of ceramides and sphingomyelins were investigated in malignant tumors and normal tissue of human ovaries. It has been established that fatty acid compositions of ceramide and sphingomyelin isolated from one tissue are significantly different: the predominant acids are oleic (18:1) in ceramide and palmitic (16:0) in sphingomyelin, which contains much more other saturated acids. These differences are characteristic of both normal and tumor tissues. Sphingoid base compositions of ceramide and sphingomyelin in normal tissue are identical: the major component is sphingenine (over 96%), while ceramides from tumors contain, in addition to sphingenine, a significant amount of sphinganine. In sphingomyelins from tumors, sphinganine content is significantly lower than in ceramides and depends on the type of tumor.