Afrin, F.; Mateen, S.; Oman, J.; Lai, J.C.K.; Barrott, J.J.; Pashikanti, S. Natural Products and Small Molecules Targeting Cellular Ceramide Metabolism to Enhance Apoptosis in Cancer Cells. Cancers2023, 15, 4645.
Afrin, F.; Mateen, S.; Oman, J.; Lai, J.C.K.; Barrott, J.J.; Pashikanti, S. Natural Products and Small Molecules Targeting Cellular Ceramide Metabolism to Enhance Apoptosis in Cancer Cells. Cancers 2023, 15, 4645.
Afrin, F.; Mateen, S.; Oman, J.; Lai, J.C.K.; Barrott, J.J.; Pashikanti, S. Natural Products and Small Molecules Targeting Cellular Ceramide Metabolism to Enhance Apoptosis in Cancer Cells. Cancers2023, 15, 4645.
Afrin, F.; Mateen, S.; Oman, J.; Lai, J.C.K.; Barrott, J.J.; Pashikanti, S. Natural Products and Small Molecules Targeting Cellular Ceramide Metabolism to Enhance Apoptosis in Cancer Cells. Cancers 2023, 15, 4645.
Abstract
: Molecular targeting strategies have been used for years to control cancer progression and are often based on targeting various enzymes involved in metabolic pathways. Keeping that in mind, it is essential to know the role of each enzyme in a particular metabolic pathway. In this review, we are providing in-depth knowledge of various enzymes such as ceramidase, sphingosine kinase, sphingomyelin synthase, dihydroceramide desaturase, and ceramide synthase, which are associated with multiple types of cancer that depend on ceramide metabolism. Focus has also been given to discussing physicochemical properties of well-studied inhibitors of natural products origin and their related structures for these enzymes. Targeting ceramide metabolism exhibited promise in mono and combination therapies at preclinical stages to prevent cancer progression and paved the way for the significance of sphingolipid metabolism in cancer treatments. Targeting ceramide metabolizing enzymes will help the medicinal chemist to design potent and selective small molecules for treating cancer progression at various levels.
Keywords
Natural Products and related small molecules; Sphingolipids; Ceramide; Ceramide Synthase; Anti-cancer therapies
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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