Short-chain ceramides depress integrin cell surface expression and function in colorectal cancer cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly metastatic, significantly so to liver, a characteristic that embodies one of the most challenging aspects of treatment. The integrin family of cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion receptors plays a central role in migration and invasion, functions that underlie metastatic potential. In the present work we sought to determine the impact of ceramide, which plays a key modulatory role in cancer suppression, on integrin cell surface expression and function in CRC cells in order to reveal possible ceramide-centric effects on tumor cell motility.