Lipidomics is a sub-discipline of metabolomics and is defined as the large-scale study of
non-water-soluble metabolites (lipids and lipidome) that utilize system-level analysis to
characterize lipids and their interacting moieties (1). A literature search at the end of 2008
showed there were 200 articles published on lipidomics encompassing glycerophospholipids,
sphingolipids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, glycolipids, sterol lipids, and proteolipids.
It has been predicted that the combination of these lipid classes totals between 1,000 and
2,000 molecules. Lipids can also act as second messengers, or mitogens, and participate
in profiling and signaling via specialized microdomains that have large amounts of lipids.
When lipids are disturbed, their metabolites probably contribute to disease. In prostate
cancer, for example, cyclooxygenase and lipooxygenase are upregulated reducing angiogenesis
and tumor growth.