Sphingolipid metabolic pathway: an overview of major roles played in human diseases.

Sphingolipids, a family of membrane lipids, are bioactive molecules that participate in diverse functions controlling fundamental cellular processes such as cell division, differentiation, and cell death. Given that most of these cellular processes form the basis for several pathologies, it is not surprising that sphingolipids are key players in several pathological processes. This review discusses the role of the sphingolipid metabolic pathway in diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma, with a special emphasis on the changes in gene expression pattern in these disease conditions. For convenience, the sphingolipid metabolic pathway is divided into hypothetical compartments (modules) with each compartment representing a physiological process and changes in gene expression pattern are mapped to each of these modules. It appears that alterations in the gene expression pattern in these disease conditions are biased to manipulate the system in order to result in a particular disease.