Journal Article

Individual Variation in Lipidomic Profiles of Healthy Subjects in Response to Omega-3 Fatty Acids: e76575

Hogg, Ronald J, Nording, Malin L, German, J Bruce, Hammock, Bruce D, Karbowski, Christine Hegedus, Weiss, Robert H, Georgi, Katrin, Yang, Jun, Zivkovic, Angela M, Trygg, Johan

2013

Overview

Introduction Conflicting findings in both interventional and observational studies have resulted in a lack of consensus on the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids in reducing disease risk. This may be due to individual variability in response. We used a multi-platform lipidomic approach to investigate both the consistent and inconsistent responses of individuals comprehensively to a defined omega 3 intervention. Methods The lipidomic profile including fatty acids, lipid classes, lipoprotein distribution, and oxylipins was examined multi- and uni-variately in 12 healthy subjects pre vs. post six weeks of omega 3 fatty acids (1.9 g/d eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and 1.5 g/d docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]). Results Total lipidomic and oxylipin profiles were significantly different pre vs. post treatment across all subjects (p=0.00007 and p=0.00002 respectively). There was a strong correlation between oxylipin profiles and EPA and DHA incorporated into different lipid classes (r2=0.93). However, strikingly divergent responses among individuals were also observed. Both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acid metabolites displayed a large degree of variation among the subjects. For example, in half of the subjects, two arachidonic acid cyclooxygenase products, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2), and a lipoxygenase product, 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) significantly decreased post intervention, whereas in the other half they either did not change or increased. The EPA lipoxygenase metabolite 12-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (12-HEPE) varied among subjects from an 82% decrease to a 5,000% increase. Conclusions Our results show that certain defined responses to omega 3 fatty acid intervention were consistent across all subjects. However, there was also a high degree of inter-individual variability in certain aspects of lipid metabolism. This lipidomic based phenotyping approach demonstrated that individual responsiveness to omega 3 fatty acids is highly variable and measurable, and could be used as a means to assess the effectiveness of omega 3 interventions in modifying disease risk and determining metabolic phenotype.

• Subject: EPA