Skin fibroblast metabolomic profiling reveals that lipid dysfunction predicts the severity of Friedreich's ataxia

To provide a better understanding of the metabolic status of FRDA patients, the authors used patient-derived fibroblast cells as a surrogate tissue for metabolic and lipidomic profiling by liquid-chromatography high resolution-mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). They found elevated HMG-CoA and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB)-CoA levels, implying dysregulated fatty acid oxidation, which was further demonstrated by elevated acyl-carnitine levels. Lipidomic profiling identified dysregulated levels of several lipid classes in FRDA fibroblast cells when compared with non-FRDA fibroblast cells. For example, levels of several ceramides were significantly increased in FRDA fibroblast cells; these results positively correlated with the GAA repeat length and negatively correlated with the frataxin protein levels. Furthermore, stable isotope tracing experiments indicated increased ceramide synthesis, especially for long chain fatty acid-ceramides, in FRDA fibroblast cells compared to ceramide synthesis in healthy control fibroblast cells. In addition, PUFA containing triglycerides and phosphatidylglycerols were enriched in FRDA fibroblast cells and negatively correlated with frataxin levels, suggesting lipid remodeling as a result of FXN deficiency. Altogether, we demonstrate patient-derived fibroblast cells exhibited dysregulated metabolic capabilities, and their lipid dysfunction predicted the severity of FRDA, making them a useful surrogate to study the metabolic status in FRDA.

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