title: Ceramide in apoptosis--does it really matter?
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.
authors.affiliation: MEMOREC Stoffel GmbH, Köln, Germany. kay.Hofmann@memorec.com
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Dixit
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002518:Ceramides / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013108:Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002518:Ceramides; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase; D013108:Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase