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Ceramide as an activator lipid of cathepsin D
M Heinrich1, M Wickel, S Winoto-Morbach
1Institute of Immunology, University of Kiel, Germany.
Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|June 13, 2000
Abstract:
We have identified the aspartic protease cathepsin D as a novel intracellular target protein for the lipid second messenger ceramide. Ceramide specifically binds to and induces CTSD proteolytic activity. A-SMase deficient cells derived from Niemann-Pick patients show decreased CTSD activity that was reconstituted by transfection with A-SMase cDNA. Ceramide accumulation in cells derived from A-ceramidase defective Farber patients correlates with enhanced CTSD activity. These findings suggest that A-SMase-derived ceramide targets endolysosomal CTSD.