• Käthe Baduva, Lara Büchter, Katja Kreyenkamp, Linnea Westphal, Barbara Wilker, Marcus Kohnen, Edward H Schuchman, Michael J Edwards, Katrin Anne Becker, Erich Gulbins, and Alexander Carpinteiro.
• Gymnasium Essen-Werden, Essen, Germany.
• Cell. Physiol. Biochem. 2019 Jan 1; 52 (5): 1092-1102.

Background/AimsRecent studies indicated that an inhalation treatment of cystic fibrosis mice with acid ceramidase prevents and eliminates infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stapyhlococcus aureus. Inhalation of acid ceramidase facilitated the elimination of P. aeruginosa in acutely- or chronically-infected mice with cystic fibrosis. Thus, inhalation of acid ceramidase might be a preventive and/or curative treatment for patients with cystic fibrosis suffering from pneumonia.MethodsWe treated cultured epithelial cells or leukemic T-lymphocytes (Jurkat cells) with purified acid ceramidase and determined intracellular signalling events, proliferation and cell survival. Specifically, we measured the activity of AKT, p38-kinase and p70S6-kinase using activation-specific phospho-antibodies in western blot studies. Trypan Blue staining served to analyze proliferation and cell survival.ResultsOur studies indicate that treatment of Chang epithelial cells or Jurkat T lymphocytes with purified acid ceramidase results in a dose dependent activation of AKT, p38-kinase and p70S6-kinase, while tyrosine phosphorylation of intracellular proteins remains largely unchanged. Acid ceramidase treatment did not change expression of tight junction proteins such as ZO-1, ZO-2 and occludin. Cellular viability and proliferation were not affected by acid ceramidase treatment.ConclusionOur data suggest that treatment of epithelial cells and lymphocytes with acid ceramidase results in activation of distinct pathways, in particular AKT- and p38K-dependent pathways, while no global activation or cell death was observed.© Copyright by the Author(s). Published by Cell Physiol Biochem Press.

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