Stopping sepsis by targeting sphingosine kinase 1.

Abstract

Each year, more than a half million people in the United States alone die from sepsis, a dire multisystem disease with highly inadequate treatment options. In a recent issue of Science, Puneet and colleagues provide compelling evidence that inhibiting sphingosine kinase 1--an enzyme that resides in immune cells and is activated by inflammatory signals--might have great potential as a therapy for septic shock.