# Development of neutral ceramidase inhibitor tool compounds

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 2020 · $390,301

## Abstract

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States and the second
leading cause of all cancer-related deaths. Despite advances in our understanding into
the mechanisms that induce colon cancer formation, treatment outcomes are still not
very successful. Recently, neutral ceramidases (nCDase) was identified as a therapeutic
target for the treatment of colon cancer; with nCDase KO mice displaying marked
decreases in adenoma and adenocarcinoma formation in an AOM-induced mouse
model of colon cancer. Current substrate mimetics for nCDase exhibit undesirable
pharmaceutic properties for systemic delivery; consequently, there is a lack of specific
inhibitors with pharmaceutical properties suitable for in vivo studies; impeding their study
as a viable cancer target. The specific objective of this proposal is to utilize high-
throughput screening (HTS) to identify chemical compounds that modulate nCDase
activity and can be used to advance future in vivo studies as a potential therapeutic
target.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9931170
- **Project number:** 5R01CA221948-03
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN DOUGLAS HALEY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $390,301
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-18 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9931170

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9931170, Development of neutral ceramidase inhibitor tool compounds (5R01CA221948-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9931170. Licensed CC0.

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