Roles of ceramide synthase and ceramide clearence genes in nilotinib-induced cell death in chronic myeloid leukemia cells.

In this study, we aimed to increase the sensitivity of human K562 and Meg-01 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells to nilotinib by targeting bioactive sphingolipids, in addition to investigating the roles of ceramide metabolizing genes in nilotinib induced apoptosis. Cytotoxic effects of nilotinib, C8:ceramide, glucosyle ceramide synthase (GCS) and sphingosine kinase-1 (SK-1) inhibitors were determined by XTT cell proliferation assay and synergism between the agents was determined by isobologram analysis. Also, quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results demonstrated that expression levels of longevity assurance (LASS) genes in response to nilotinib were correlated with sensitivity to nilotinib. For the first time, The results of this study showed for the first time that nilotinib induces apoptosis through upregulating ceramide synthase genes and downregulating SK-1 in CML cells in addition to inhibition of BCR/ABL. On the other hand, manipulating bioactive sphingolipids toward generation/accumulation of ceramides increased the apoptotic effects of nilotinib in CML cells.