Dissertation

Chemical tools to study lipid signaling

Synthesis and application of chemical biology tools to study immunomodulatory signaling lipids.

Author: Gagestein, B.
Date: 16 December 2020
Links: Thesis in Leiden repository

Lipids are defined as hydrophobic biomolecules that dissolve in organic solvents, but not in water. They have a wide variety of functions inside the cell, such as structural building block of membranes, energy storage and cell signaling. The discovery that aspirin affects prostaglandin synthesis demonstrated that lipids can modulate the immune system and that enzymes involved in their metabolism constitute interesting drug targets.1 Many different signaling activities have subsequently been discovered for multiple lipid classes, such as endocannabinoids, resolvins, steroid hormones and vitamins A and D.2–5 However, many signaling lipids have a low abundance, high lipophilicity and are short-lived, and as a consequence the mode of action and protein interaction partners of many lipids have remained elusive.