Sphingolipids constitute a class of lipids defined by their eighteen carbon amino-alcohol backbones which are synthesized in the ER from nonsphingolipid precursors. Modification of this basic structure is what gives rise to the vast family of sphingolipids that play significant roles in membrane biology and provide many bioactive metabolites that regulate cell function. Despite the diversity of structure and function of sphingolipids, their creation and destruction are governed by common synthetic and catabolic pathways. In this regard, sphingolipid metabolism can be imagined as an array of interconnected networks that diverge from a single common entry point and converge into a single common breakdown pathway. In their simplest forms, sphingosine, phytosphingosine and dihydrosphingosine serve as the backbones upon which further complexity is achieved. For example, phosphorylation of the C1 hydroxyl group yields the final breakdown products and/or the important signaling molecules sphingosine-1-phosphate, phytosphingosine-1-phosphate and dihydrosphingosine-1-phosphate, respectively. On the other hand, acylation of sphingosine, phytosphingosine, or dihydrosphingosine with one of several possible acyl CoA molecules through the action of distinct ceramide synthases produces the molecules defined as ceramide, phytoceramide, or dihydroceramide. Ceramide, due to the differing acyl CoAs that can be used to produce it, is technically a class of molecules rather than a single molecule and therefore may have different biological functions depending on the acyl chain it is composed of. At the apex of complexity is the group of lipids known as glycosphingolipids (GSL) which contain dozens of different sphingolipid species differing by both the order and type of sugar residues attached to their headgroups. Since these molecules are produced from ceramide precursors, they too may have differences in their acyl chain composition, revealing an additional layer of variation. The glycosphingolipids are divided broadly into two categories: glucosphingolipids and galactosphingolipids. The glucosphingolipids depend initially on the enzyme glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) which attaches glucose as the first residue to the C1 hydroxyl position. Galactosphingolipids, on the other hand, are generated from galactosylceramide synthase (GalCerS), an evolutionarily dissimilar enzyme from GCS. Glycosphingolipids are further divided based upon further modification by various glycosyltransferases which increases the potential variation in lipid species by several fold. Far more abundant are the sphingomyelin species which are produced in parallel with glycosphingolipids, however they are defined by a phosphocholine headgroup rather than the addition of sugar residues. Although sphingomyelin species all share a common headgroup, they too are produced from a variety of ceramide species and therefore can have differing acyl chains attached to their C-2 amino groups. Whether or not the differing acyl chain lengths in SMs dictate unique functions or...

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), a sphingolipid metabolite that plays an important role in the regulation of cell survival, growth, migration, and angiogenesis, acts both inside the cells and as an extracellular mediator through binding to five G protein-coupled receptors (S1P 1-5 ). Sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1), the enzyme responsible for S1P production, is overexpressed in many solid tumors, including gliomas. One common feature of these tumors is the presence of "hypoxic regions," characterized by cells expressing high levels of hypoxia-inducible factors HIF-1␣ and HIF-2␣, two transcription regulators that modulate the levels of proteins with crucial roles in tumor progression. So far, nothing is known about the role and the regulation of SK1 during tumor-induced hypoxia or about SK1 regulation and HIFs. Here we investigated the role of HIF-1␣ and HIF-2␣ in the regulation of SK1 during hypoxic stress in glioma-derived U87MG cells. We report that hypoxia increases SK1 mRNA levels, protein expression, and enzyme activity, followed by intracellular S1P production and S1P release. Interestingly, knockdown of HIF-2␣ by small interfering RNA abolished the induction of SK1 and the production of extracellular S1P after CoCl 2 treatment, whereas HIF-1␣ small interfering RNA resulted in an increase of HIF-2␣ and of SK1 protein levels. Moreover, using chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis, we demonstrate that HIF-2␣ binds the SK1 promoter. Functionally, we demonstrate that conditioned medium from hypoxia-treated tumor cells results in neoangiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells in a S1P receptor-dependent manner. These studies provide evidence of a link between S1P production as a potent angiogenic agent and the hypoxic phenotype observed in many tumors.

Radiation resistance in a subset of prostate tumors remains a challenge to prostate cancer radiotherapy. The current study on the effects of radiation on prostate cancer cells reveals that radiation programs an unpredicted resistance mechanism by upregulating acid ceramidase (AC). Irradiated cells demonstrated limited changes of ceramide levels while elevating levels of sphingosine and sphingosine-1-phosphate. By genetically downregulating AC with small interfering RNA (siRNA), we observed radiosensitization of cells using clonogenic and cytotoxicity assays. Conversely, AC overexpression further decreased sensitivity to radiation. We also observed that radiation-induced AC upregulation was sufficient to create cross-resistance to chemotherapy as demonstrated by decreased sensitivity to Taxol and C(6) ceramide compared to controls. Lower levels of caspase 3/7 activity were detected in cells pretreated with radiation, also indicating increased resistance. Finally, utilization of the small molecule AC inhibitor, LCL385, sensitized PPC-1 cells to radiation and significantly decreased tumor xenograft growth. These data suggest a new mechanism of cancer cell resistance to radiation, through upregulation of AC that is, in part, mediated by application of the therapy itself. An improved understanding of radiotherapy and the application of combination therapy achieved in this study offer new opportunities for the modulation of radiation effects in the treatment of cancer.

Introduction CML is a clonal disorder of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells characterized by the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome, which results from the reciprocal translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22. 1-4 This hybrid B-cell receptor (BCR)-ABL1 gene encodes for a fusion protein Bcr-Abl1 with a constitutive tyrosine kinase activity. 3,4 Despite high rates of clinical responses in early chronic phase CML (CML-CP) to the Bcr-Abl1 kinase inhibitor imatinib, 5-8 development of resistance is a major problem in late CML-CP and in the treatment of blast crisis CML (CML-BC). 9-12 Although Bcr-Abl1-independent mechanisms also exist, 13-15 resistance in CML-CP is usually associated with the expression of mutant Bcr-Abl1 proteins, including T315I and Y253F/H mutations against which the second generation ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) such as nilotinib and/or dasatinib show limited effect. 15-17 Nonetheless , BCR-ABL1 mutations may not account for all cases of drug resistance in CML (CP and BC); indeed, alternative Bcr-Abl1-dependent mechanisms including alterations of sphingolipid metabolism and signaling, 18 might account for TKI resistance. Sphingolipids, ceramide and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) included, are a family of membrane lipids with important roles in the regulation of the fluidity and subdomain structure of membranes. 19-21 Ceramide can be hydrolyzed by ceramidases to release sphingosine, which is phosphorylated by sphingosine kinases-1 or-2 (SK-1 or SK-2) to generate S1P. 20 Ceramide plays proapoptotic roles 21 whereas S1P mediates proliferation and/or resistance to apoptosis 22,23 generally via G-protein-coupled S1P1-5 receptor signaling. 24 However, receptor-independent intracellular functions of S1P were also reported. 25 Recently, alteration of the balance between the proapoptotic ceramide and antiapoptotic S1P via up-regulation of SK-1 was shown to mediate imatinib resistance in K562 CML-BC patient-derived cells by an unknown mechanism. 18 Here, we report the identification of a novel mechanism by which SK-1/S1P mediates imatinib resistance by regulation of the PP2A-dependent and SHP-1-mediated Bcr-Abl1 dephosphoryla-tion and stability selectively via receptor 2 (S1P2) signaling in CML (CP and BC). In addition, our data suggest that targeting the SK-1/S1P2 signaling axis provides a novel strategy to modulate wild-type (wt) or mutant (T315I or Y253H) Bcr-Abl1 stability by restoring PP2A function, and attenuate drug resistance both in cell culture and in mice bearing 32D/T315I-Bcr-Abl1 allografts. Human CML cell lines K562, LAMA4, and their imatinib-resistant derivatives K562/IMA-0.1,-1,-3, or LAMA4/IMA, were maintained as described. 18 The Bcr-Abl-expressing 32Dcl3 cells, 32D-p210 Bcr-Abl (wt), 32D-p210 Bcr-Abl (Y253H) and (T315I) were maintained in RPMI containing 15% FBS, 2mM L-glutamine, and penicillin and streptomycin (P/S; 100 ng/mL each). MEFs (wt and SK-1 /) were maintained in DMEM with 10% FBS and P/S. Human CD34 primary cells from CML patients and normal donor were obt...

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is an important bioactive sphingolipid involved in angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, 2 important processes that influence the growth, survival, and spread of tumors. S1P acts as an extracellular mediator through binding to 5 highly specific S1P receptors, S1P(1-5). Sphingosine kinase-1 (SK1), one of 2 known sphingosine kinase enzymes responsible for S1P production, appears to be overexpressed in many tumors. Although a role for S1P in angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis has been established, it is unclear whether S1P secreted from cancer cells has a paracrine function in a tumor environment. Here we investigated whether modulation of cellular SK1 could initiate a paracrine angiogenic and lymphangiogenic switch. We found that SK1 overexpression in HEK cells or its down-regulation in glioma or breast cancer cells modulated extracellular S1P levels accordingly, which in turn increased or decreased both migration and tube formation in cocultured vascular or lymphatic endothelial cells. In contrast, down-regulation of sphingosine kinase 2 in both glioma and breast cancer cells had no appreciable effect on cellular or secreted S1P levels. In addition, vascular endothelial growth factors VEGF and VEGF-C down-regulation in cancer cells appeared insufficient to block the angiogenic and lymphangiogenic switch triggered by these cells. Moreover, S1P initiated endothelial cell sprouting in 3-dimensional collagen matrices, which is representative of a multistep angiogenic process. Our data collectively demonstrate for the first time that SK1 plays an essential role in regulating in vitro paracrine angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.