Bacterial infections and ceramide
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Updated: May 12, 2026

Saturated Fatty Acids Induce Ceramide-associated Macrophage Cell Death
Published on: October 31, 2017
Heike Grassmé1, Katrin Anne Becker
1Department of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. heike.gulbins@uni-due.de
Abstract:
Ceramide is released from sphingomyelin primarily by the activity of acid, neutral, or alkaline sphingomyelinases or is synthesized de novo. Several bacteria, viruses, and even parasites infect mammalian cells by exploiting the acid sphingomyelinase or the neutral sphingomyelinase-ceramide system, or both. Sphingomyelinases and ceramide have been shown to be crucially involved in the internalization of pathogens, the induction of apoptosis in infected cells, the intracellular activation of signaling pathways, and the release of cytokines. The diverse functions of ceramide in infections suggest that the sphingomyelinase-ceramide system is a key player in the host response to many pathogens.
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