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The Relevance of Lipid Metabolism in Viral Hepatitis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2025) | Viewed by 1392

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. St’ Lukes Hospital, 55236 Thessaloniki, Greece
2. Medizinische Klinik 1, University Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
Interests: sphingolipid; ceramide; HCC; viral hepatitis; cirrhosis; liver failure; sphingomyelinase; exosomes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Unexpected progress has been achieved in recent years with the approval of novel medications for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Yet, the enthusiasm around the availability of new compounds is not coupled with a significant improvement in the survival of respective patients. Viral hepatitis, a major cause of HCC worldwide, is resource-dependently adequately addressed; however, even after the sufficient suppression or even eradication of the viral infection, the emergence of HCC is still possible. Both underlying mechanistic interactions as well as efficient biomarkers are lacking in order to properly tailor early diagnosis and effective treatment. In the last two decades, lipid compounds have been under the spotlight since both viral hepatitis as well as HCC seem to interact with the abundant hepatic lipid microenvironment and thus regulate liver inflammation, fibrosis and carcinogenesis.

In this Special Issue, we aim to attract original papers and reviews offering novel insights into the significance of lipid metabolism in viral hepatitis and HCC, providing an interesting discussion.

Dr. Georgios Grammatikos
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • sphingolipid
  • ceramide
  • HCC
  • viral hepatitis
  • sphingomyelinase
  • exosomes
  • immune therapy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1407 KiB  
Article
Acid Sphingomyelinase Activation and ROS Generation Potentiate Antiproliferative Effects of Mitomycin in HCC
by Sirkka Buitkamp, Stephanie Schwalm, Katja Jakobi, Nerea Ferreiros, Christin Wünsche, Stefan Zeuzem, Erich Gulbins, Christoph Sarrazin, Josef Pfeilschifter and Georgios Grammatikos
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(22), 12175; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252212175 - 13 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 950
Abstract
Sphingolipids play a major role in the regulation of hepatocellular apoptosis and proliferation. We have previously identified sphingolipid metabolites as biomarkers of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines were transfected with a plasmid vector encoding for acid sphingomyelinase. [...] Read more.
Sphingolipids play a major role in the regulation of hepatocellular apoptosis and proliferation. We have previously identified sphingolipid metabolites as biomarkers of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines were transfected with a plasmid vector encoding for acid sphingomyelinase. Overexpressing cells were subsequently treated with mitomycin and cell proliferation, acid sphingomyelinase activity, sphingolipid concentrations, and generation of reactive oxygen species were assessed. The stimulation of acid sphingomyelinase-overexpressing cell lines with mitomycin showed a significant activation of the enzyme (p < 0.001) followed by an accumulation of various ceramide species (p < 0.001) and reactive oxygen radicals (p < 0.001) as compared to control transfected cells. Consequently, a significant reduction in cell proliferation was observed in acid sphingomyelinase-overexpressing cells (p < 0.05) which could be diminished by the simultaneous application of antioxidant agents. Moreover, the application of mitomycin induced significant alterations in mRNA expression levels of ceramidases and sphingosine kinases (p < 0.05). Our data suggest that the overexpression of the acid sphingomyelinase in human hepatoma cell lines enhances the in vitro antiproliferative potential of mitomycin via accumulation of ceramide and reactive oxygen species. The selective activation of acid sphingomyelinase might offer a novel therapeutic approach in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Full article
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