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Apoptosis (2015) 20:581583 DOI 10.1007/s10495-015-1113-5
THE ROLE OF SPHINGOLIPIDS AND LIPID RAFTS IN DETERMINING CELL FATE
The role of sphingolipids and lipid rafts in determining cell fate
Paola Matarrese1 Walter Malorni1
Published online: 20 March 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Introduction
Sphingolipids and lipid rafts have been demonstrated since many years to play a critical role in a number of cell pathways and cell programs. They have been demonstrated to participate in the regulatory mechanisms determining cell fate. Sphingolipids are a class of bioactive lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, aliphatic amino alcohols that include sphingosine. In view of their enigmatic nature, the rst authors discovering these molecules in 1870 proposed their name referring as to the mythological gure of the Sphinx, paradigmatic of one enigma. Sphingolipid-based microdomains are usually called lipid rafts. These structures serve to protect the plasma membrane lipid bilayer against harmful environmental factors by forming a mechanically stable and chemically resistant outer leaet but, more recently, these microdomains were hypothesized to play a series of functional roles including cell recognition and signaling. In particular, lipid rafts serve as foci for the recruitment and concentration of signaling molecules and have been implicated in signal transduction from cell surface receptors, linking exogenous stimuli to the intracellular signaling machinery that mediates and executes cell death [1]. Thus, they can act as catalytic domains where molecular interactions can be facilitated and contribute to the triggering of signaling cascades involved not only in apoptosis, but also in
proliferation, differentiation, stress responses, necrosis, inammation, autophagy, and senescence. In sum, they participate in almost all the intracellular pathways involved in cell life and death. This Issue is thus devoted to the analysis of different aspects underlying the implication of sphingolipids and lipid microdomains in cell patho-physiology: from their synthesis and assembly to their metabolic pathways and to their impact either on cell death by apoptosis or in autophagic process. In addition, since defects of apoptosis as well as autophagy have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of human diseases, the possible involvement of sphingolipids and lipid microdomains in the context of relevant human diseases is also be taken into consideration. In particular, the work by Gajate and Mollinedo [2] carefully describe how...