About the Cover
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
192
5
Cover picture: A tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-sensitive cell line, L929 (top left: untreated control), exhibits an increase in intracellular ceramide that correlates with an atypical apoptosis (morphologic hallmarks of apoptosis despite a lack of caspase activity) in response to TNF (top right). When these cells overexpress acid ceramidase, the apoptotic features are strongly reduced (bottom right; bottom left shows the same cells without TNF). Thus, the inhibition of ceramide production by acid ceramidase increases survival of TNF-treated L929 cells, indicating that intracellular ceramide may be a major inducer of TNF-dependent cell death. See related article in this issue by Strelow et al, pp. 601-611.
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