The clinical immunosuppressant FTY720 is a sphingosine analogue that, once
phosphorylated by sphingosine kinase 2 (Sphk2), is an agonist of multiple receptor subtypes
for sphingosine 1-phosphate. Short exposures to FTY720 afford long term protection in
lymphoproliferative and autoimmune disease models, presumably by inducing apoptosis in
subsets of cells essential for pathogenesis. Sphingosine itself is pro-apoptotic, and
apoptosis induced with FTY720 or sphingosine is thought to proceed independently of their …