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Journal ArticleDOI

Ceramide-orchestrated signalling in cancer cells

Samy A.F. Morad, +1 more
- 01 Jan 2013 - 
- Vol. 13, Iss: 1, pp 51-65
TLDR
This Review focuses on ceramide signalling and the targeting of specific metabolic junctures to amplify the tumour suppressive activities of ceramide.
Abstract
One crucial barrier to progress in the treatment of cancer has been the inability to control the balance between cell proliferation and apoptosis: enter ceramide. Discoveries over the past 15 years have elevated this sphingolipid to the lofty position of a regulator of cell fate. Ceramide, it turns out, is a powerful tumour suppressor, potentiating signalling events that drive apoptosis, autophagic responses and cell cycle arrest. However, defects in ceramide generation and metabolism in cancer cells contribute to tumour cell survival and resistance to chemotherapy. This Review focuses on ceramide signalling and the targeting of specific metabolic junctures to amplify the tumour suppressive activities of ceramide. The potential of ceramide-based therapeutics in the treatment of cancer is also discussed.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Lipid Transfer Proteins and Membrane Contact Sites in Human Cancer.

TL;DR: How different LTPs as well as MCSs can contribute to cell transformation and malignant phenotype are described, and how “aberrant” M CSs are associated with tumorigenesis in human are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Feature extraction and integration underlying perceptual decision making during courtship behavior.

TL;DR: This framework provided a rich and plausible explanation of behavior in terms of two stimulus cues that were extracted by models of sensory neurons and combined through excitatory–inhibitory interactions, and was able to link single neuron's feature selectivity and network computations with decision making in a natural task.
Journal ArticleDOI

Role of sphingomyelinases in neurological disorders

TL;DR: These enzymes, which catalyze the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin to ceramide and phosphorylcholine, are abundant in the brain and a major, rapid source of ceramide production not only during physiological responses to receptor stimulation, but also in neurological disorders.
Journal ArticleDOI

Acid ceramidase is associated with an improved prognosis in both DCIS and invasive breast cancer

TL;DR: High ASAH1 expression is generally associated with an improved prognosis in invasive breast cancer independent of adjuvant treatment and could also be valuable as prognostic factor for pre‐invasive DCIS.
Journal ArticleDOI

Divisive Gain Modulation of Motoneurons by Inhibition Optimizes Muscular Control

TL;DR: This work uses turtle hindlimb scratching as a model for fine motor control and finds that not only is the gain of motoneurons regulated on a subsecond timescale, it is also adjusted to minimize variability.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

AMPK and mTOR regulate autophagy through direct phosphorylation of Ulk1

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Targeting mitochondria for cancer therapy

TL;DR: The mitochondrial metabolism of cancer cells is deregulated owing to the use of glycolytic intermediates, which are normally destined for oxidative phosphorylation, in anabolic reactions and activation of the cell death machinery by stimulating mitochondrial membrane permeabilization could therefore be promising therapeutic approaches.
Journal ArticleDOI

Biologically active sphingolipids in cancer pathogenesis and treatment.

TL;DR: This work has shown that ceramide — a central molecule in sphingolipid metabolism — in effect functions as a tumour-suppressor lipid, inducing antiproliferative and apoptotic responses in various cancer cells, and that S1P induces responses that, on aggregate, render S 1P a tumours-promoting lipid.
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