Fig. 4. Fatty acid metabolism in breast tissue.
Scheme of ω6 fatty acid metabolism a indicating selected enzymes involved, and the role of PI3K signaling in the liberation of arachidonic acid from the cell membrane by cPLA2. Fatty acids measured in the current study, emphasize pathways that contribute to tissue pools of arachidonic acid. Boxplots in b from a subset of data stratified by PIK3CA genotype indicate relative concentrations of the sum of selected fatty acids in normal breast adipose (N, N = 82) compared to tumor tissue harboring wildtype (WT, N = 12) or mutant (Mut, N = 23) PIK3CA. There was a significant difference in the level of all fatty acids between N and WT/Mut with all p < 0.005. c Boxplots of ratio analysis showing the change in the overall fatty acid metabolism.