Koybasi et al. (2004) measured endogenous long-chain ceramides in 32 human HNSCC and 10 nonsquamous head and neck carcinoma tumor tissues, and found that C(18:0)-ceramide was selectively downregulated in the majority of HNSCC tumor tissues but not in the nonsquamous tumor tissues or in adjacent noncancerous tissues from HNSCC patients. Overexpression of the homolog of S. cerevisiae lag1 gene (LASS1; 606919) in an HNSCC cell line resulted in a 2-fold increase in levels of C(18:0)-ceramid e to concentrations similar to those of normal head and neck tissues and was associated with a 70 to 80% inhibition of cell growth. Koybasi et al. (2004) concluded that LASS1 and C(18:0)-ceramide have a biologic role in the regulation of growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.

Reference
OMIM: Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck