Introduction to Thematic Minireview Series: Novel Bioactive Sphingolipids |
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| Authors: | Alfred H. Merrill Jr. George M. Carman |
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| Affiliation: | From the ‡Schools of Biology and Chemistry & Biochemistry, and the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 and ;the §Department of Food Science, Rutgers Center for Lipid Research, and New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901 |
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| Abstract: | Sphingosine was named by J. L. W. Thudichum for its enigmatic properties. This descriptor has applied to sphingolipids for over a century because new enigmas continue to surface. This JBC minireview series presents articles about three novel subspecies of sphingolipids, α-galactosylceramides, 4,5-dihydroceramides, and 1-deoxysphingolipids, that have important activities but, until recently, remained undetected (or at least understudied) in the shadow of very closely related compounds. They also serve as a reminder that important metabolites still lie “off the radar screen” in reports of global and comprehensive metabolomic profiling. |
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| Keywords: | apoptosis autophagy cancer cell signaling ceramide diabetes glycolipid immunology sphingolipid neuropathy |
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