Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.22.36 (caspase-1)
 6,285 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We show, in this study, that type I IFN induction of the cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor p21WAF1 in the human Burkitt lymphoma B cell-line Daudi and ensuing cell cycle arrest correlate with the terminal differentiation of these cells, and is ultimately followed by apoptosis and cell death. The expression of p21WAF1 paralleled the onset of G1 arrest and the reduction of surface IgM expression which was used as a marker of the differentiation response, and the IFN treated cells acquired a typical plasma cell-like morphology. The type II IFN IFNgamma, which does not inhibit the growth of Daudi cells, did not induce the expression of p21WAF1, nor affect the expression of surface IgM. The induction of p21WAF1 which paralleled the inhibition of the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein, pRB, was preceded by the strong reduction in c-myc levels. We propose that the coupled down-regulation of c-myc and induction of p21WAF1 may be crucial to the induction of differentiation and G1 arrest in Daudi cells by type I IFN. Growth arrest and differentiation was followed by apoptosis and cell death, and was accompanied by the induction of the activity of the apoptotic ICE-family protease CPP32. G1 arrest and differentiation followed by apoptotic cell death are characteristics of terminal differentiation. Thus, our data suggest that the induction of p21WAF1 and G1 arrest mediated by type I IFN in Daudi cells is part of terminal differentiation response in these cells, highlighting a role for type I IFN as B cell terminal differentiation factors.
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PMID:Type I interferon induction of the Cdk-inhibitor p21WAF1 is accompanied by ordered G1 arrest, differentiation and apoptosis of the Daudi B-cell line. 958 86

Apoptosis is a mechanism of cell death that occurs in normal development and on the regulation of vertebrate tissues and organ cellularity. Neurons undergo p53-dependent and p53-independent apoptosis, depending upon the stimulus that triggers DNA fragmentation. Many neurons in the developing nervous system suffer apoptosis, with the cyclin D1 being an essential mediator of neuronal cell death. Other characteristics of apoptosis are: condensation of the nucleus, fragmentation of chromatin at nucleosome linkage sites, membrane blebbing, and the formation of apoptotic bodies. Among the possible molecular mechanisms are: (a) activation of proteases, as ICE (Il-1 beta converting enzyme); (b) calpain is activated in several cells, with PARP (Poly-ADP-ribose polymerase) and a small U1 Ribonucleoprotein, being substrates for ICE and its homologs such as ICH and others proteins. The p53 gene encodes a transcription factor that contributes to several different cellular activities, including apoptosis, the cellular response to radiation, and the activation of proteins such as GADD, Bcl-2 (represses to apoptosis) and Bax. P53 exerts a role as inductor of apoptosis by transactivating expression of the Bax gene. The p53 gene tumor suppressor limits cellular proliferation by including either the arrest of cell cycle in G1, or apoptosis, depending on the cellular context. The p21 is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase, which is transactivated by p53. During apoptosis, there is an activation of both, c-myc, and the transcription factor NF-kB, which is a important regulator of apoptosis. As an example of signalization of apoptosis we have selected to illustrate the problem related to the system Fas/APO in thymocytes.
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PMID:[Molecular bases of the programmed cell death process: implications of tumor suppressor protein p53 and other proteins in the control of cell cycle. Mechanisms of apoptotic action. Review]. 992 5

Flavopiridol is one of the first cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors undergoing clinical tests. We found that the combination treatment of flavopiridol (100-500 nM) with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha (10 ng/ml) induced a rapid and eminent apoptosis, 20 +/- 5% in 6-h treatment, in a human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line, A549, as determined by the increase of sub-G(1) fraction in flow cytometry. A similar observation was also made in human colon cancer cell lines, HCT-116 and HCT-15, but not in Rat2, a rat fibroblast cell line. In A549 cells, the cytotoxic synergy by the combination treatment involved the activation of caspase-1, caspase-3, and caspase-8 and generated huge chromosomal degradation. The treatment schedules were so important that only the treatments of flavopiridol concomitantly with or followed by TNF-alpha showed the pronounced apoptosis in A549 cells. Prior treatment of TNF-alpha inhibited the apoptosis by the following combination treatment, leading to little cell death. Yet, such inhibition was reversed when 100 microM of 5,6-dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole, a transcription inhibitor, was present during the TNF-alpha pretreatment, suggesting that the inhibitory pretreatment of TNF-alpha might involve antiapoptotic gene expression at the transcriptional level. TNF-alpha treatment resulted in nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B activation, revealed by NF-kappa B activity reporter assay. In contrast, flavopiridol was found to inhibit the NF-kappa B-dependent gene transcription, which might give an explanation for the synergistic effect of flavopiridol with TNF-alpha. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL; 100 ng/ml) also caused a rapid and strong cytotoxic synergy with flavopiridol. In contrast to TNF-alpha, however, all of the treatment sequences supported the synergy by TRAIL and flavopiridol. The combination of flavopiridol with TNF-alpha or TRAIL may be of use for the development in cancer therapy.
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PMID:Rapid induction of apoptosis by combination of flavopiridol and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha or TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand in human cancer cell lines. 1256 5