Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Cancer pp 1–8Cite as

Sphingolipid Metabolism

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 41 Accesses

Definition

Sphingolipids (SLDs) contain sphingosine (Sph) or a similar moiety. Sphingosine (Fig. 1a) is D-erythro-trans-4-octadecene-2-amino-1,3-diol; R1 is typically a C13 alkyl chain. Ceramide or Cer (Fig. 1b) is a fatty acid amide of sphingosine that plays a pivotal role in cell growth and death, in which R2 symbolizes a saturated or monoenoic fatty acid containing 16–32 or more carbon atoms. Some fatty acids have an OH at carbon-2 or at the end carbon. Some ceramides contain phytosphingosine instead of Sph; here the double bond is replaced by an OH at C-4.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Sketch (a) shows sphingosine and (b) shows aramide R1 which represents a tridecyl alkyl chain of a saturated or monounsaturated fatty acid

Full size image

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Hakomori SI (2008) Structure and function of glycosphingolipids and sphingolipids: recollections and future trends. Biochim Biophys Acta 1780:325–346

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li R, Ladisch S (1996) Abrogation of shedding of immunosuppressive neuroblastoma gangliosides. Cancer Res 56:4602–4605

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ogretmen B, Hannun YA (2004) Biologically active sphingolipids in cancer pathogenesis and treatment. Nat Rev Cancer 4:604–616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panjarian S, Kozhaya L, Arayssi S, Yehia M, Bielawski J, Bielawska A, Usta J, Hannun YA, Obeid LM, Dbaibo GS (2008) De novo N-palmitoylsphingosine synthesis is the major biochemical mechanism of ceramide accumulation following p53 up-regulation. Prostaglandins Lipid Mediat 86:41–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Radin NS (2004) Sphingolipids as coenzymes in anion transfer and tumor death. Bioorg Med Chem 12:6029–6037

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Radin NS (2007) Allylic structures in body and cancer drugs that control cell life and death. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruvolo PP (2003) Intracellular signal transduction pathways activated by ceramide and its metabolites. Pharmacol Res 47:383–392

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yin J, Miyazaki K, Shaner RL, Merrill AH Jr, Kannagi R (2010) Altered sphingolipid metabolism induced by tumor hypoxia – new vistas in glycolipid tumor markers. FEBS Lett 584:1872–1878

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

See Also

  • (2012) AKT. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 115. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_163

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Allylic Structures. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 143. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_202

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) D-MAPP. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1128. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1659

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Ganglioside Secretion. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1495. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2321

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Gaucher Disease. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1515. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2340

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Glutathione. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1559. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2438

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Histone Acetylation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1697. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2750

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Multidrug Resistance. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2393. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3887

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) PDMP. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 2804–2805. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4427

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Poly-Drug Chemotherapy. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2954. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4657

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Rafts. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3163. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4938

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) S1P. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3327. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5136

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Sphinganine. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3480. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5437

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Sphingolipids. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 3484–3485. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5439

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Sphingomyelins. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3485. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5441

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Sphingosine. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3485. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5442

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Sulfatide. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3556. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5563

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Norman S. Radin

Authors
  1. Norman S. Radin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norman S. Radin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Radin, N.S. (2014). Sphingolipid Metabolism. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5438-5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5438-5

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation