Dermatology News & Articles

1 Impaired Epidermal Ceramide Synthesis Causes Autosomal Recessive Congenital Ichthyosis and Reveals the Importance of Ceramide Acyl Chain Length Journal of Investigative Dermatology, May 16, 2013
Eckl KM et al. - The barrier function of the human epidermis is supposed to be governed by lipid composition and organization in the stratum corneum. Disorders of keratinization, namely ichthyoses, are typically associated with disturbed barrier activity. These findings demonstrate that synthesis of very long chain ceramides by CerS3 is a crucial early step for the skin barrier formation and link disorders presenting with congenital ichthyosis to defects in sphingolipid metabolism and ...

2 The effect of a hydrocolloid dressing containing ceramide-2 on split-thickness wounds in a laser-induced erosion model Advances in Skin & Wound Care, May 20, 2013
Tsuchiya S et al. - This study investigated the effect of ceramide-2 on wound healing using a diabetic mouse model. The authors' findings suggest for the first time the possibility of the novel application of ceramide as a therapeutic agent for skin erosion.

3 Targeting glucosylceramide synthase synergizes with C6-ceramide nanoliposomes to induce apoptosis in natural killer cell leukemia Leukemia and Lymphoma, May 20, 2013
Watters RJ et al. - Natural killer (NK) cell leukemia is characterized by clonal expansion of CD3- NK cells and comprises both chronic and aggressive forms. PPMP elicited an increase in endogenous long-chain ceramide species, which led to cellular apoptosis in a synergistic manner via the mitochondrial intrinsic cell death pathway in leukemic NK cells.

4 Effects of Biophysical Parameters in Enhancing Radiation Responses of Prostate Tumors with Ultrasound-Stimulated Microbubbles Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, May 3, 2013
Kim HC et al. - The aim of this study was to investigate how different ultrasound parameters, different microbubble concentrations and different radiation doses interact to enhance cell death. Comparable increases in ceramide, a cell death mediator, were identified using immunohistochemistry. The authors also show here that even clinically used microbubble concentrations combined with ultrasound can induce significant enhancement of cell death.

5 Sphingomyelin synthase 1 activity is regulated by the BCR-ABL oncogene Journal of Lipid Research, February 14, 2013
Burns TA et al. - To examine if dysregulated sphingomyelin synthase (SMS) contributes to leukemogenesis, the authors measured SMS activity in several leukemic cell lines and found that it is highly elevated in K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells. The findings indicate that Sms1 is a downstream target of Bcr-abl, involved in sustaining cell proliferation of Bcr-abl positive cells.

6 Impact of immune-metabolic interactions on age-related thymic demise and T cell senescence Seminars in Immunology, February 12, 2013
Dixit VD et al. - Recent data suggest that byproducts of thymic fatty acids and lipids result in accumulation of ‘lipotoxic DAMPs’ (damage associated molecular patterns), which triggers the innate immune-sensing mechanism like inflammasome activation which links aging to thymic demise. This review discusses the immune-metabolic mechanisms during aging - with implications for developing future therapeutic strategies for living well beyond the expected.

7 The effect of short term overfeeding on serum lipids in healthy humans Obesity, May 6, 2013
Heilbronn LK et al. - While chronic obesity is associated with alterations in circulating glycerolipids, sphingolipids and plasmalogens, the effects of short term overfeeding in humans are unclear. Overfeeding led to weight gain and changes in the serum lipid profile. Increases in ceramides were noted, which left unchecked may promote systemic insulin resistance. Uniform increases were observed in plasmalogens and their precursors. Since plasmalogens are powerful antioxidants, this may ...