Ceramide-1-phosphate regulates migration of multipotent stromal cells and endothelial progenitor cells--implications for tissue regeneration.

Ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P) is a bioactive lipid that, in contrast to ceramide, is an antiapoptotic molecule released from cells that are damaged and "leaky." As reported recently, C1P promotes migration of hematopoietic cells. In this article, we tested the hypothesis that C1P released upon tissue damage may play an underappreciated role in chemoattraction of various types of stem cells and endothelial cells involved in tissue/organ regeneration. We show for the first time that C1P is upregulated in damaged tissues and chemoattracts bone marrow (BM)-derived multipotent stromal cells, endothelial progenitor cells, and very small embryonic-like stem cells. Furthermore, compared to other bioactive lipids, C1P more potently chemoattracted human umbilical vein endothelial cells and stimulated tube formation by these cells. C1P also promoted in vivo vascularization of Matrigel implants and stimulated secretion of stromal cell-derived factor-1 from BM-derived fibroblasts. Thus, our data demonstrate, for the first time, that C1P is a potent bioactive lipid released from damaged cells that potentially plays an important and novel role in recruitment of stem/progenitor cells to damaged organs and may promote their vascularization.