Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.30.2 (endonuclease)
 18,621 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The mechanism by which etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor, killed replicating mouse L929 fibroblasts was investigated. Etoposide at 10 microM killed 70% of the cells within 4 days, a result that was accompanied by DNA fragmentation. A characteristic "ladder" pattern of DNA fragmentation was confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Simultaneous exposure of the cells to 10 microM etoposide plus 1 microM cycloheximide reduced both the extent of cell killing and the fragmentation of DNA. Delayed addition of cycloheximide protected cells only if cycloheximide was added 1-6 hr after exposure to etoposide. When added 6-24 hr after treatment with etoposide, cycloheximide lost the ability to protect cells. Cell growth was completely inhibited by either etoposide or cycloheximide. Furthermore, DNA synthesis was inhibited by either etoposide or cycloheximide within 6 hr. Protein synthesis, however, was not inhibited by etoposide. Thus, the ability of cycloheximide to protect cells correlated with inhibition of protein synthesis, rather than inhibition of DNA synthesis. A 1-hr exposure to 2.5 mM N-methyl-N-nitrosourea similarly inhibited DNA synthesis within 6 hr. without affecting protein synthesis. However, no loss of viability accompanied N-methyl-N-nitrosourea treatment. Thus, an imbalance between protein synthesis and DNA synthesis cannot explain the cell killing by etoposide. H-7, a protein kinase C inhibitor, prevented the cell killing and DNA fragmentation, whereas aurintricarboxylic acid, an endonuclease inhibitor, reduced the extent of DNA fragmentation but did not have an effect on cell killing. The data document that the killing of replicating mouse fibroblasts by etoposide represents an example of programmed cell death (apoptosis) that depends on protein synthesis. Although protein synthesis is required during the first 24 hr of exposure to etoposide, cell death is delayed until several days later.
 ...
PMID:Programmed cell death (apoptosis) of mouse fibroblasts is induced by the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide. 796 76

Etoposide, a DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor, caused a concentration-dependent induction of apoptosis in immature thymocytes. Using a flow cytometric method to separate and quantify normal and apoptotic cells, etoposide-induced apoptosis was inhibited by cycloheximide and actinomycin D but not by zinc. Etoposide induced a marked cleavage of DNA into nucleosomal length fragments or multiples thereof, which was completely inhibited if the thymocytes were also incubated in the presence of zinc. Etoposide, alone, induced the classical ultrastructural features of apoptosis, but in the presence of zinc, the morphological pattern was markedly different and dominated by discrete clumps of condensed chromatin abutting the nuclear membrane. These latter changes resemble those described as the earliest changes in apoptosis. These results support the hypothesis that, in the induction of apoptosis, critical alterations in nuclear chromatin occur prior to endonuclease cleavage of DNA into nucleosomal fragments.
 ...
PMID:Changes in nuclear chromatin precede internucleosomal DNA cleavage in the induction of apoptosis by etoposide. 830 63

The effects of the inhibitors of topoisomerase I and II, camptothecin and etoposide, as well as novobiocin and adriamycin, on the DNA fragmentation and viability of mouse thymocytes in primary culture were examined. All inhibitors were shown to produce dose-dependent internucleosomal DNA cleavage by resolving isolated DNA by agarose-gel electrophoresis. The DNA fragmentation seemed to precede cell death, determined on the basis of LDH release, by a few hours. Etoposide-induced DNA fragmentation progressively increased after incubation and was enhanced by pretreatment with phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, a phorbol ester capable of activating protein kinase C, whereas camptothecin-induced DNA fragmentation increased progressively after 12 h incubation and was unaffected by phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate-pretreatment. The process was also energy-dependent and required RNA and protein synthesis and protein phosphorylation, since it was inhibited by sodium azide, actinomycin D, cycloheximide and 1-(5-isoquinoline-sulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine hydrochloride, a protein kinase inhibitor. DNA fragmentation was also inhibited by zinc ions, suggesting the involvement of a specific endonuclease in DNA cleavage. These phenomena are similar to those detected in thymocytes undergoing apoptosis following exposure to glucocorticoids (Cohen, J.J. and Duke, R.C. (1984) J. Immunol. 132, 38-42). Considering that topoisomerases function in cellular proliferation and differentiation by altering DNA topology, the results suggest that topoisomerases have important roles in T-lymphocyte ontogeny in the thymus and are in part involved in the elimination of autoreactive or harmful cells by an apoptotic process.
 ...
PMID:Topoisomerase inhibitors induce apoptosis in thymocytes. 838 Mar 39

Etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor used in cancer therapy, has been shown to induce apoptosis in vitro in a variety of cell types. In the present study, we have characterized the effects of etoposide on undifferentiated rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. Etoposide killed PC12 cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. 20-24 h incubation with 10 micrograms/ml etoposide induced 25-50% cell death. Hoechst 33258 staining revealed apoptotic morphology in dying cells. No evidence was found of either oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation, as shown by agarose gel electrophoresis, or endonuclease involvement, as shown by the inability of aurintricarboxylic acid to prevent cell death. Cycloheximide and actinomycin-D were unable to prevent etoposide cytotoxicity indicating that the process is not dependent upon de novo protein or mRNA synthesis. NGF (5 ng/ml) prevented etoposide-induced PC12 cell death. These results offer an example of how the morphological features of apoptosis are not necessarily associated with oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation or with de novo macromolecule synthesis.
 ...
PMID:Etoposide-induced PC12 cell death: apoptotic morphology without oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation or dependency upon de novo protein synthesis. 933 35

Etoposide induced a megabase (Mb) fragmentation pattern identical with that from genomic digestion by NotI restriction endonuclease which specifically cleaves CpG islands in euchromatin domains. Redigestion by NotI produced no change, suggesting cleavage in the same or closely related sites in euchromatin domains. Preferential euchromatin cleavage was further suggested by harvested metaphase chromosomes showing self-inflicted resolution of light G-bandings (R-bandings), the euchromatin domains. Autodegeneration following Mb euchromatin fragmentations was shown by their degradation into 200 bp ladders, and expressions of apoptotic and "non-apoptotic" active death morphologies that were also seen conjointly in the same cell. The endstage further showed heterochromatin masses anchored to the nucleolus by novel ball-and-socket joints where dislocations occurred with nuclear leakage.
 ...
PMID:Euchromatin megabase cleavages and conjoint apoptotic-autophagic death expression with nucleolar ball-and-socket joint dislocations in human Chang liver cells arrested in S-phase by etoposide. 986 Jan 40