【Institute for Advanced Biosciences】 Unique Membrane Lipid Triggers Immune Overactivation: Short-Chain Sphingomyelin (SM C12) Drives Inflammatory Cell Death — Study reveals how fatty acid chain length in sphingomyelin regulates innate immune activation —

2025.12.16

A collaborative research group led by Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Xuhao Huang (at the time of the study, a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Science), Professor Kazuya Kabayama, and Specially Appointed Professor Koichi Fukase at the Institute for Radiation Sciences, Osaka University, in collaboration with Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Hirotaka Kanoh of the IAB, Keio University, Professor Shinya Hanashima of Tottori University, and Professor Keiichiro Inamori of Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, has, for the first time in the world, demonstrated that differences in the fatty acid chain length of sphingomyelin (SM) serve as a key switch that turns innate immunity on and off.

The study further revealed that short-chain sphingomyelin (SM C12) strongly activates innate immune responses and induces inflammatory cell death, providing new insights into the mechanisms underlying immune regulation and inflammation.

◆Click the link below for more details.
Unique Membrane Lipid Triggers Immune Overactivation:
Short-Chain Sphingomyelin (SM C12) Drives Inflammatory Cell Death
— Study reveals how fatty acid chain length in sphingomyelin regulates innate immune activation —