Investigation of the antiproliferative effect of ceramide and spinfomyeline on various cell lines

In spite of new developments in medical treatments, it is estimated that cancers, being (the leading) one of the most important health problems in our country and the whole world, have caused 9.6 million deaths in 2018. According to researches ceramide and sphingomyelin are found to be important molecules to lead the cells to apoptosis and autophagy. Ceramide induces intrinsic apoptosis which is regulated by caspases and BCL-2 family members, and autophagy by affecting beclin-1 and L3B which are autophagy mediators. In addition, it is found in the researches that cellular ceramide accumulation cause cancerous cells' death in prostate and cervix tumors and normal cells are resistant to cytotoxic effects of ceramide. There are evidences about ceramide also having anticarcinogenic effects in colon cancer. Sphingomyelin is an important molecule of cell membrane and ceramide metabolism. Considering all these studies, whether ceramide and sphingomyelin can be alternative molecules in cancer treatment or not, is investigated in this study using SRB test, by looking at their antiproliferative activity on C6, HT29, OV2008, CCD-18Co cell lines, while being dissolved in two different solvents. By SRB tests we conducted, it is observed that; affecting like one another, at high concentrations ceramide and sphingomyelin have antiproliferative effect in 3 different cancer cell lines and 1 healthy cell line, however at low concentrations their antiproliferative effect is too little and even there is increment at vitality rates of cells comparing to control groups. Effectiveness of ceramide and sphingomyelin is found to be variable depending on their concentration, and whether is it DMSO solution or ethanol in which they are dissolved; and using proper concentration in proper solvent they show promise for being able to be used against cancer cells as a specific agent. Studies performed in in vivo environment to support these results and advanced researches at molecular level to understand these effects are necessary.