We found that functional inhibition of endogenous RARα in breast cancer cells by using either RARα specific antagonists or a dominant negative RARα mutant hampers on one hand the RA-induced upregulation of neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase)-mediated CER synthesis, and on the other hand the RA-induced downregulation of sphingosine kinase 1, SK1, pivotal for S1P synthesis. Here, SPHK1 is linked to breast cancer.