The paper “Lipid Droplets and the Management of Cellular Stress” was published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, a journal that has been continuously published since 1928 and is edited by Yale medical and graduate students. This invited review paper was prepared for the September 2019 special issue of the journal entitled “Organelles” and was selected as an editor’s pick upon publication. In this review, we discuss the emerging roles of lipid droplets as fat storage organelles and major regulators of cellular metabolism. One of the hallmark characteristics of lipid droplets is their capacity to buffer excess lipids and to finely tune their subsequent release based on specific cellular requirements. This simple feature of lipid droplet biology, buffering and delayed release of lipids, forms the basis for their pleiotropic roles in the cellular stress response. In each cell, lipid droplets support the homeostasis of membrane lipid composition and dynamics, take care of damaged proteins and lipids and patrol the cell to form dynamic contacts with other organelles. They provide protection against excess dietary fat, but also enable optimal energy production in the muscle and heart, complement autophagy during starvation and regulate inflammatory and immune responses.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32721447
This paper was published upon invitation in the special issue of Biochimie entitled "Biogenesis and fate of lipid droplets". Biochimie is a journal published by Elsevier on behalf of the Société Française de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire and we were delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this issue. In this review, we discuss the principal ways in which lipid droplets regulate the availability of fatty acids for the production of lipid mediators and activation of inflammatory signaling pathways. On the one hand, lipid droplets sequester polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) thereby limiting their availability for participation in signaling pathways. On the other hand, lipids derived from the neutral lipid core or the phospholipid monolayer of lipid droplets directly act as signaling mediators or are converted into ones. Most notably, we now have evidence in immune cells and adipocytes that lipid droplet-derived PUFAs may oxidized by cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase enzyme to produce a plethora of lipid mediators, such as those from the eicosanoid family, that regulate the inflammatory process and also affect tumourigenesis. Lipid droplets thus act as signalling hubs that integrate metabolic and inflammatory processes, which are also involved in the development of cancer.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32978471