CERK and cancer: However, in tumors of the SLURP-1-treated mice, we observed a significant increase in expression of the genes coding α7-nAChR (CHRNA7), pro-oncogenic integrin α5 (ITGA5), and ceramide kinase (CERK), which are responsible for growth and migration of cancer cells (Morozevich et al., 2012; Grando, 2014; Camacho et al., 2022) (Figure 4A).