Abstract

Lactosylceramide (LacCer) plays a pivotal role in the biosynthesis of glycosphingolipids. Growth factors and pro-inflammatory cytokines converge to activate LacCer synthase to generate LacCer, which then activates downstream signaling pathway that leads to cell proliferation, adhesion, migration and angiogenesis. Dys-regulation of such phenotypic changes are a hallmark of diseases of the cardiovascular system, proliferative disorders such as cancer and inflammatory diseases. Therefore, LacCer and LacCer synthase provide a novel target to effectively address a wide variety of current health conditions which afflict a large percentage of the population.