Molecular Targeting of Acid Ceramidase in Glioblastoma: A Review of Its Role, Potential Treatment, and Challenges

Ha S Nguyen; Ahmed J Awad; Saman Shabani; Ninh Doan

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics10020045

Molecular Targeting of Acid Ceramidase in Glioblastoma: A Review of Its Role, Potential Treatment, and Challenges

Pharmaceutics. 2018 Apr 9;10(2):45. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics10020045.

Authors

Ha S Nguyen^{1

2}, Ahmed J Awad^{3

4}, Saman Shabani⁵, Ninh Doan^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. hsnguyen@mcw.edu.
² Faculty of Neurosurgery, California Institute of Neuroscience, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, USA. hsnguyen@mcw.edu.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. aawad@mcw.edu.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 11941, Palestine. aawad@mcw.edu.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. sshabani@mcw.edu.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. ndoan@mcw.edu.
⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA. ndoan@mcw.edu.

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common, malignant primary tumor of the central nervous system. The average prognosis for life expectancy after diagnosis, with the triad of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, is less than 1.5 years. Chemotherapy treatment is mostly limited to temozolomide. In this paper, the authors review an emerging, novel drug called acid ceramidase, which targets glioblastoma. Its role in cancer treatment in general, and more specifically, in the treatment of glioblastoma, are discussed. In addition, the authors provide insights on acid ceramidase as a potential druggable target for glioblastoma.

Keywords: S1P; acid ceramidase; acid ceramidase inhibitors; carmofur; glioblastoma; radiation; radioresistance; sphingosine; sphingosine-1-phosphate.

Publication types

Review