RESUMEN
Sphingolipids have been implicated in apoptosis after various stress inducers. To assess the involvement of the de novo sphingolipid pathway in apoptosis, photodynamic therapy (PDT) with the photosensitizer Pc 4 was used as a novel stress inducer. Here we provide biochemical and genetic evidence of the role of the de novo sphingolipids in apoptosis post-Pc 4-PDT. In Jurkat cells PDT-induced intracellular sphinganine accumulation, DEVDase activation, PARP cleavage, and apoptosis were suppressed by the de novo sphingolipid synthesis inhibitor ISP-1 (Myriocin). Coincubation with sphinganine, sphingosine, or C16-ceramide specifically reversed the antiapoptotic actions of ISP-1 or the singlet oxygen scavenger L-histidine. PDT-induced cytochrome c release from mitochondria into the cytosol was inhibited by L-histidine, but not by ISP-1. Cotreatment with sphinganine did not reverse the inhibitory effect of L-histidine. In addition, PDT-induced sphinganine accumulation and apoptosis were ISP-1-sensitive in A431 human epidermoid and HT29 human carcinoma cells. Furthermore, in LY-B cells, CHO-derived mutants deficient in the de novo sphingolipid synthesis enzyme serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) activity, DEVDase activation and apoptosis were delayed and suppressed post-PDT. Hence, the data are consistent with the partial involvement of the de novo sphingolipid pathway in apoptosis via DEVDase activation downstream of mitochondrial cytochrome c release post-Pc 4-PDT.