Studies of bioactive lipids in general and sphingolipids in particular have intensified over the past several years, revealing an unprecedented and unanticipated complexity of the lipidome and its many functions, which rivals, if not exceeds, that of the genome or proteome. These results highlight critical roles for bioactive sphingolipids in most, if not all, major cell biological responses, including all major cell signalling pathways, and they link sphingolipid metabolism to key human diseases. Nevertheless, the fairly nascent field of bioactive sphingolipids still faces challenges in its biochemical and molecular underpinnings, including defining the molecular mechanisms of pathway and enzyme regulation, the study of lipid-protein interactions and the development of cellular probes, suitable biomarkers and therapeutic approaches.

中文翻译：

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鞘脂及其在生理和疾病中的代谢。

在过去的几年中，对一般生物活性脂质，尤其是鞘脂的生物活性的研究得到了加强，揭示了脂质组及其许多功能的空前和未曾预料到的复杂性，这可以与基因组或蛋白质组相媲美，甚至可以超越。这些结果凸显了生物活性鞘脂在大多数（如果不是全部）主要细胞生物学应答（包括所有主要细胞信号通路）中的关键作用，并将鞘脂代谢与关键的人类疾病联系在一起。然而，生物活性鞘脂的刚刚起步的领域在其生化和分子基础上仍面临挑战，包括确定途径和酶调节的分子机制，脂质-蛋白质相互作用的研究和细胞探针的开发，合适的生物标志物和治疗方法。