Abstract
In recent years, sphingolipids have garnered increasing attention for their roles in modulating intracellular signaling events. Circulating factors associated with obesity promote excess accumulation of ceramide or glucosylceramide derivatives, which impair insulin action in peripheral tissues. In this issue, Villa et al. (p. 866) provide evidence that, in yeast, the progestin and adipoQ receptor superfamily of receptors mediate their effects via a novel ceramidase activity, generating sphingoid base as a second messenger.
Footnotes
-
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [Grants R01-DK55758, R90-DK081180-02] and the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute [Grant R01-CA112023].
-
Please see the related article on page 866.
-
ABBREVIATIONS: PAQR, progestin and adipoQ receptor; AMPK, AMP-activated protein kinase; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.
- Received January 15, 2009.
- Accepted January 21, 2009.
- The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
MolPharm articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years.Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page.
|