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Article of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

Key Role for Sphingomyelin in the Regulation of KRAS Function Activating mutations in the small GTPase KRAS occur frequently in human cancers. van der Hoeven et al. (e00373-17) show that perturbations in the sphingomyelin biosynthetic pathway cause depletion of plasma membrane (PM) phosphatidylserine, which in turn results in loss of KRAS localization and nanoclustering on the PM. Consequently, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, proliferation of KRAS-transformed cancer cells, and growth of KRAS-driven tumors in nude mice are all inhibited. This study suggests that pharmacological tools for modulating sphingolipid pathways may represent novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of KRAS-dependent cancer.