Accumulation of fatty alcohol in MCF-7 breast cancer cells

The MCF-7 cell line (human breast epithelial cells) accumulates fatty alcohols. The fatty alcohols were identified as C16:0, C18:0, and C18:1 alcohols by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. This accumulation of alcohols in MCF-7 was found in cultures of MCF-7 cells obtained from other laboratories but not in a variety of unrelated cell lines. The presence of the alcohols suggested an aberrant ether lipid metabolism in the MCF-7 cells. Therefore, the capacity for either lipid biosynthesis was evaluated using cells incubated with either [14C]stearyl alcohol or [14C]stearic acid. MCF-7 cells incorporated less than 0.4% of the [14C]alcohol into ether-linked phospholipids, whereas the AB589 breast epithelial cells, used as a "normal control" for comparisons, did not accumulate fatty alcohol and incorporated approximately 20% of the radiolabeled alcohol into phospholipids containing ether linkages. Although the MCF-7 cells were unable to effectively incorporate the fatty alcohol into ether linkages, the cells were able to oxidize the alcohol to fatty acid. When incubated with [14C]stearic acid, the conversion to radiolabeled fatty alcohol in MCF-7 cells was approximately four times higher than the alcohol levels found in AB589 cells. While deficient in the ability to synthesize ether linkages, the MCF-7 cells did incorporate radiolabeled hexadecylglycerol, a precursor containing an ether linkage, into phospholipids. Collectively, the data indicate that the MCF-7 cells possess a deficiency in the alkyl DHAP synthase activity. A near absence of ether-linked lipids in the MCF-7 cells was indicated by the radiolabeling studies, and this finding was corroborated by results from HPLC analysis. Analyses of the partial glycerides, obtained from the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellular phospholipids, found only trace levels of ether lipids in the MCF-7 cells. The aberration in ether lipid biosynthesis did not correlate with the expression of the multidrug resistance phenotype in a series multidrug resistant MCF-7 variants. The results are discussed relative to the use of the MCF-7 cells as a model for investigations of ether lipid biosynthesis and the cellular physiology of ether lipids.