Role of increased sphingomyelinase activity in apoptosis and organ failure of patients with severe sepsis Ralf A. Claus * ,1 , Alexander C. Bunck * , Clemens L. Bockmeyer * , Frank M. Brunkhorst * , Wolfgang Lösche * , Ralf Kinscherf † and Hans-Peter Deigner ‡ ,1 * Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; † Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology III, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and ‡ School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK 1 Correspondence: R. A. C., Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Division for Experimental Anesthesiology, Erlanger Allee 101, Jena 07747, Germany. E-mail: ralf.claus@med.uni-jena.de ; H.-P. D., School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. E-mail: h-p.deigner@uea.ac.uk <h3>SPECIFIC AIMS</h3> Sphingolipid hydrolysis and ceramide generation have been suggested to play a pivotal role in immune modulation and the development of multi-organ dysfunction. Using a novel test system we evaluated whether the activity of a plasma-secreted sphingomyelinase (pSMPD1) is altered in critically ill patients and whether its modulation by a novel, low molecular weight inhibitor in a murine endotoxic mice shock model improves survival
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