The de novo pathway of sphingolipid synthesis has been identified recently as a novel
means of generating ceramide during apoptosis. Furthermore, it has been suggested that
the activation of dihydroceramide synthase is responsible for increased ceramide production
through this pathway. In this study, accumulation of ceramide mass in Molt-4 human
leukemia cells by the chemotherapy agent etoposide was found to occur primarily due to
activation of thede novo pathway. However, when the cells were labeled with a substrate for …