A new twist to the emerging functions of ceramides in cancer: Novel role for platelet acid sphingomyelinase in cancer metastasis

It is now appreciated that sphingolipids constitute a rich class of bioactive molecules that include ceramide, sphingosine, and sphingosine 1-phosphate whose formation is controlled by a network of highly regulated enzymes (Hannun & Obeid,). Notably, several stress stimuli induce the production of ceramide, which, as a single entity, has been traditionally associated with apoptotic and growth suppressive functions. However, recent data clearly suggest that this simplistic formulation is no longer tenable.