N-Desmethyltamoxifen, the principal metabolite of tamoxifen in humans, serves as an efficacious modulator of ceramide metabolism within human AML cells by inhibiting ceramide glycosylation, hydrolysis, and sphingosine phosphorylation. Although it demonstrates weak antiestrogenic properties, it acts as a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor with a potency ten times greater than that of tamoxifen.
ENDOTHELIN-1 (ET-1), the principal peptide of the endothelin family, has been shown to have a variety of biological activities in both vascular and nonvascular tissues. The C-terminal fragment, which is a highly conserved sequence in the peptides of t
Scaff10-8 is an inhibitor of AKAP-Lbc-RhoA interaction that acts by promoting the translocation of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane of renal collecting duct principal cells.
Ceramide phosphoethanolamine (CPE) is an analog of sphingomyelin that contains ethanolamine rather than choline as the head group. It is the principal membrane phospholipid in invertebrates such as Drosophila, which lacks sphingomyelin. It is only produced in small amounts in mammalian cells, accounting for approximately 0.02 mol% of total phospholipids in mouse testis and brain. In Drosophila, CPE is biosynthesized by CPE synthase from ceramide and cytidine diphosphate-ethanolamine in the Golgi lumen. In mammals, it is biosynthesized by sphingomyelin synthase 2 (SMS2) in the plasma membrane and by sphingomyelin synthase-related protein (SMSr) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In Drosophila, CPE has a role in glial ensheathment of axons. Disrupting CPE synthesis by depleting SMSr in vitro in mammalian cells leads to an accumulation of ER ceramides, which are then mislocalized to the mitochondria, inducing apoptosis. However, ceramide levels are not altered in transgenic mice lacking SMSr catalytic activity. CPEs (bovine) is a mixture of CPEs with variable N-acyl chain lengths.