PubMed meta-analysis identified Cer as the downstream metabolic
messenger of Lep cascade
To discover the potential metabolic messengers downstream of Lep
signaling cascade, we conducted a literature mining study based on the
PubMed database. With the keyword of “Leptin; Lipid Metabolism”, 4212
publications were obtained from years of 2000 to 2020. Among 4212
publications, 78 studies were designed to investigate the biology
underlying the cytoplasmic interactions between Lep and Cer at the
molecular level. Afterwards, 14 and 150 publications were obtained by
searching the keywords of “Ceramide; Pregnancy” and “Ceramide;
Preeclampsia”, respectively, suggesting potential mechanistic
implications of Cer in PE pathophysiology. Based on these results, Cer
and its biosynthetic precursor dihydroceramide (DHCer) were selected as
the biomarker candidates to generate our hypothesis and launched the
following analyses.