Figures & data
Figure 1. Sphingolipid metabolism. Central to sphingolipid metabolism is ceramide, which can be generated de novo and is used as a building block for complex sphingolipids. It can also be phosphorylated or further metabolized into sphingosine-1-phosphate. See text for more details. Abbreviations: SPT = serine palmityoltransferase; CerS = ceramide synthase; DEGS = dihydroceramide desaturase; SMS = sphingomyelin synthase; SMase = sphingomyelinase; GCS = glucosylceramide synthase; CDase = ceramidase; CK = ceramide kinase.
Figure 2. Cell death susceptibility. Cells with increased expression of acid ceramidase (ASAH1) may remain susceptible to death stimuli, if ceramide synthases activity prevails over activity of sphingosine kinases.
Figure 3. Sphingolipid therapeutics under clinical investigation. ASONEP is an antibody designed to target S1P. ABC294640 is an inhibitor of sphingosine kinase 2. Ceramide nanoliposomes are pegylated liposomes containing C6-ceramide.
