Ceramide in apoptosis--does it really matter?

K Hofmann; V M Dixit

doi:10.1016/s0968-0004(98)01289-4

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Ceramide in apoptosis--does it really matter?

K Hofmann·V M Dixit

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Abstract

During recent years, ceramide has received a lot of attention as a possible mediator of the cellular responses to a variety of apoptotic stimuli. In a manner analogous to generation of its sibling diacylglycerol, ceramide is generated by a phospholipase-C-type reaction from its lipid precursor sphingomyelin. Two observations led to the proposal that ceramide plays a role in apoptosis: (1) treatment of cells with tumor necrosis factor or other inducers of apoptosis leads to activation of sphingomyelinases and to an increase in cellular ceramide levels; (2) ectopic generation or administration of ceramide can mimic apoptotic cell death. Recently, several observations have challenged the notion that ceramide is an important cell-death mediator and have prompted a re-evaluation of previously published results.

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Animals Apoptosis Cell Line Ceramides Diacylglycerol Kinase Humans Models, Biological Signal Transduction Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase Comment Journal Article Review

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K Hofmann, V M Dixit. 1998. Ceramide in apoptosis--does it really matter?. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-0004(98)01289-4

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