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)

Cardiomyocyte apoptosis has been demonstrated in animal models of cardiac injury as well as in patients with congestive heart failure or acute myocardial infarction. Therefore, apoptosis has been proposed as an important process in cardiac remodeling and progression of myocardial dysfunction. However, the mechanisms underlying cardiac apoptosis are poorly understood. The present study was designed to determine whether the family of caspase proteases and stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK/JNK) are involved in cardiac apoptosis. Cultured rat neonatal cardiac myocytes were treated with staurosporine to induce apoptosis as evidenced by the morphological (including ultrastructural) characteristics of cell shrinkage, cytoplasmic and nuclear condensation, and fragmentation. Nucleosomal DNA fragmentation in myocytes was further identified by agarose gel electrophoresis (DNA ladder) as well as in situ nick end-labeling (TUNEL). Staurosporine-induced apoptosis in myocytes was a time- and concentration-(0.25-1 micro M)-dependent process. Staurosporine-induced apoptosis in myocytes was reduced by a cell-permeable, irreversible tripeptide inhibitor of caspases, ZVAD-fmk, but not by the ICE-specific inhibitor, Ac-YVAD-CHO. At 10, 50 and 100 muM of ZVAD-fmk, staurosporine-induced myocyte apoptosis was reduced by 5.8, 39.1 (P<0.01) and 53.8% (P<0.01), respectively. Staurosporine, at 0.25-1 micro M, increased caspase activity in cardiomyocytes by five- to eight-fold, peaking at 4-8 h after stimulation. Based on substrate specificity analysis, the major component of caspases activated in myocytes was consistent with caspase-3 (CPP32). Moreover, the appearance of the 17-kD subunit of active caspase-3 in staurosporine-treated myocytes was demonstrated by immunocytochemical analysis. In contrast, staurosporine induced a rapid and transient inhibition of SAPK/JNK in myocytes. The SAPK activity in myocytes was reduced by 68.3 and 58.3% (P<0.01 v basal) at 10 and 30 min after treatment with 1 micro M of staurosporine, respectively. Our results suggest that staurosporine-induced cardiac myocyte apoptosis involves activation of caspases, mainly caspase-3, but not activation of the SAPK signaling pathway.
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PMID:Staurosporine-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes: A potential role of caspase-3. 951 27

Fas is a cell surface molecule that transduces the apoptotic death signaling on the stimulation of Fas ligand, and plays the dominant role in various disease states. The lethal effect of Fas antibody in mice has been reported, and this experimental procedure has been used as the model for hepatitis. Recently, the prevention of this Fas antibody-induced hepatitis by the broad caspase inhibitor (z-VAD.fmk) has been reported. In the present study, we additionally demonstrated that the CPP32 subfamily, rather than the ICE subfamily, plays the dominant role in the Fas antibody-induced hepatitis. Fas antibody-injection induced chromosomal DNA fragmentation and CPP32 subfamily-activation in both the liver and lung. Tissue damage observed in the lung was weak as compared with liver damage. When mice were exposed to DEVD-CHO (specific inhibitor of CPP32 subfamily), this lethal effect of Fas antibody, tissue destruction, and CPP32 subfamily-activation were prevented. In contrast, YVAD-CHO (specific inhibitor of ICE subfamily) could not prevent the lethal effect of Fas antibody. We propose here that the CPP32 subfamily plays the dominant role in Fas-mediated hepatitis, and DEVD-CHO would be an effective cure for hepatitis.
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PMID:The dominant role of CPP32 subfamily in fas-mediated hepatitis. 952 Oct 92

Infection of erythroid-lineage cells by human parvovirus B19 is characterized by a gradual cytocidal effect. Accumulating evidence now implicates the nonstructural (NS1) protein of the virus in cytotoxicity, but the mechanism underlying the NS1-induced cell death is not known. Using a stringent regulatory system, we demonstrate that NS1 cytotoxicity is closely related to apoptosis, as evidenced by cell morphology, genomic DNA fragmentation, and cell cycle analysis with the human erythroleukemia cell line K562 and the erythropoietin-dependent megakaryocytic cell line UT-7/Epo. Apoptosis was significantly inhibited by an interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta)-converting enzyme (ICE)/CED-3 family protease inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-CHO (CPP32; caspase 3), whereas a similar inhibitor of ICE (caspase 1), Ac-YVAD-CHO, had no effect. Furthermore, stable expression of the human Bcl-2 proto-oncogene resulted in near-total protection from cell death in response to NS1 induction. Mutations engineered into the nucleoside triphosphate-binding domain of NS1 significantly rescued cells from NS1-induced apoptosis without having any effect on NS1-induced activation of the IL-6 gene expression which is mediated by NF-kappaB. Furthermore, using pentoxifylline, an inhibitor of NF-kappaB activation, we demonstrate that the NF-kappaB-mediated IL-6 activation by NS1 is uncoupled from the apoptotic pathway. This functional dissection indicates a complexity underlying the biochemical function of human parvovirus NS1 in transcriptional activation and induction of apoptosis. Our findings indicate that NS1 of parvovirus B19 induces cell death by apoptosis in at least erythroid-lineage cells by a pathway that involves caspase 3, whose activation may be a key event during NS1-induced cell death.
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PMID:Human parvovirus B19 nonstructural (NS1) protein induces apoptosis in erythroid lineage cells. 952 24

In the present study, we demonstrate that rat kidney contains caspase activity that was markedly inhibited by specific peptide inhibitors of caspases but not by inhibitors of Ser, Cys, Asp, or metalloproteinases. Using primers based on the nucleotide sequence of known members of Ced-3/interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE) family from human origin, we have identified by reverse-transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses that rat kidney transcribes the genes for caspase-1 (ICE), caspase-2 (Nedd2), caspase-3 (CPP32), and caspase-6 (Mch2). RT-PCR products, when subcloned and sequenced, provided full-length cDNAs for ICE (1,209 bp) and CPP32 (786 bp) and partial cDNA products for Mch2 (561 bp) and Nedd2 (811 bp). The sequence analysis of the caspase cDNAs showed conserved catalytic site QACRG as well as Asp cleavage site. Rat kidneys subjected to ischemia-reperfusion injury revealed differential expression of caspases with marked increase in CPP32 and ICE mRNA and proteins during reperfusion, transient increase in Nedd2 mRNA and proteins during ischemia and the early period of reperfusion, and little change in Mch2 expression during the ischemia or reperfusion period. The altered expression suggests that caspases may act in concert in a cascade and may play an important role in ischemic acute renal failure.
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PMID:Identification of gene family of caspases in rat kidney and altered expression in ischemia-reperfusion injury. 953 Feb 76

Taxotere is a new type chemotherapeutic agent which targets tubulin. In the present study, we investigated the molecular machinery of taxotere-initiated death signaling. Taxotere induced cell death in mouse fibroblast L929 cells. Cell morphological analysis revealed that this effect showed characteristics of apoptotic and necrotic cell death. To further examine taxotere-induced cell death, we investigated the direct involvement of caspase. When cells were pretreated with the synthesized tetrapeptide inhibitor of caspase, YVAD-CHO (Ac-Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-aldehyde: inhibitor of interleukin-1beta converting enzyme (ICE) subfamily) or DEVD-CHO (Ac-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde: inhibitor of CPP32 subfamily), taxotere-induced cell death was prevented. In addition, time course experiments demonstrated that activation of the ICE subfamily preceded activation of the CPP32 subfamily in taxotere-initiated death signaling, suggesting the direct involvement of the ICE cascade in taxotere-initiated death signaling. On the basis of these results, we suggest that taxotere causes the initiation of ICE cascade in its death signaling pathway and that the down-stream site of taxotere-initiated death signaling is the same as that of other chemotherapeutic agents.
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PMID:Necessity of interleukin-1beta converting enzyme cascade in taxotere-initiated death signaling. 955 18

Proteolytic cleavage of key cellular proteins by caspases (ICE, CPP32, and Ich-1/Nedd2) may be crucial to the apoptotic process. The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene is a negative regulator of cell growth and the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) exhibits anti-apoptotic function. We show that pRb is cleaved during apoptosis induced by either UV irradiation or anti-Fas antibody. Our studies implicate CPP32-like activity in the proteolytic cleavage of pRb. The kinetics of proteolytic cleavage of pRb during apoptosis differ from that observed for other cellular proteins, suggesting that the specific cleavage of pRb during apoptosis may be an important event.
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PMID:Proteolytic cleavage of retinoblastoma protein upon DNA damage and Fas-mediated apoptosis. 955 24

The cowpox virus (CPV) CrmA and the equivalent rabbitpox virus (RPV) SPI-2 proteins have anti-inflammatory and antiapoptosis activity by virtue of their ability to inhibit caspases, including the interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE; caspase-1). Infection of LLC-PK1 pig kidney cells with a CPV CrmA mutant, but not with wild-type (wt) CPV, results in the induction of many of the morphological features of apoptosis (C. A. Ray and D. J. Pickup, Virology 217:384-391, 1996). In our study, LLC-PK1 cells infected with CPV delta crmA, but not those infected with wt CPV, showed induction of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)- and lamin A-cleaving activities and processing of the CPP32 (caspase-3) precursor to a mature 18-kDa form. Surprisingly, infection of LLC-PK1 cells with either wt RPV (despite the presence of the SPI-2 protein) or RPV delta SPI-2 resulted in cleavage activity against PARP and lamin A and the appearance of the mature subunit of CPP32/caspase-3. The biotinylated specific peptide inhibitor Ac-Tyr-Val-Lys(biotinyl)-Asp-2,6-dimethylbenzoyloxymethylketone [AcYV(bio)KD-aomk] labeled active caspase subunits of 18, 19, and 21 kDa in extracts from LLC-PK1 cells infected with CPV delta crmA, wt RPV, or RPV delta SPI-2 but not wt CPV. Mixed infection of LLC-PK1 cells with wt RPV and wt CPV gave no PARP-cleaving activity, and all PARP cleavage mediated by SPI-2 and CrmA mutants of RPV and CPV, respectively, could be eliminated by coinfection with wt CPV. These results suggest that the RPV SPI-2 and CPV CrmA proteins are not functionally equivalent and that CrmA, but not SPI-2 protein, can completely prevent apoptosis in LLC-PK1 cells under these conditions.
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PMID:Activation of caspases in pig kidney cells infected with wild-type and CrmA/SPI-2 mutants of cowpox and rabbitpox viruses. 955 31

Cultured cerebellar granule neurons undergo apoptosis when switched from a medium containing depolarizing levels of K+ (25 mM KCl) to medium containing lower levels of K+ (5 mM KCl). We used this paradigm to investigate the role of caspases in the death process. Two broad-spectrum caspase inhibitors, tert-butoxycarbonyl-Asp x (O-methyl) x fluoromethyl ketone and benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp x fluoromethyl ketone, significantly reduced cell death (90 and 60%, respectively) at relatively low concentrations (10-25 microM), suggesting that caspase activation is involved in the apoptotic process. DNA fragmentation, a hallmark of apoptosis, was also reduced by these caspase inhibitors, suggesting that caspase activation occurred upstream of DNA cleavage in the sequence of events leading to cell death. As a step toward identifying the caspase(s) involved, the effects of N-acetyl Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp x chloromethyl ketone (YVAD x cmk), an interleukin-1beta converting enzyme-preferring inhibitor, and N-acetyl Asp-Glu-Val-Asp x fluoromethyl ketone (DEVD x fmk), a CPP32-preferring inhibitor, were also evaluated. YVAD x cmk provided only modest (<20%) protection and only at the highest concentration (100 microM) tested, suggesting that interleukin-1beta converting enzyme and/or closely related caspases were not involved. In comparison, DEVD x fmk inhibited cell death by up to 50%. Western blot analyses, however, failed to detect an increase in processing/activation of CPP32 or in the proteolysis of a CPP32 substrate, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, during the induction of apoptosis in granule neurons. Similarly, the levels of Nedd2, a caspase that is highly expressed in the brain and that is partially inhibited by DEVD x fmk, also remained unaffected in apoptotic neurons undergoing apoptosis. These results suggest that a DEVD-sensitive caspase other than CPP32 or Nedd2 mediates the induction of apoptosis in K+-deprived granule neurons.
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PMID:A DEVD-inhibited caspase other than CPP32 is involved in the commitment of cerebellar granule neurons to apoptosis induced by K+ deprivation. 957 64

In order to characterize cell death mechanisms involved in Alzheimer disease (AD), we quantitated the expression of ced-3 and ced-9 homologs in AD frontal cortex. Positive (ICE, ICErel-II, ICErel-III, Ich-1L, CPP32, mch2, mch3, bcl-xS, bax and bak) and negative (bcl-2, bcl-xL, MCL1 and Ich-1S) regulators of apoptosis were successively examined using a semi-quantitative technique of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Total RNA was extracted from postmortem frontal cortex of AD patients (n = 7) and controls (n = 7) matched for age and autolysis time. Baseline levels of message were detected for 3 ced-3 (CPP32, Ich-1 and ICE) and 4 ced-9 homologs (bcl-x, MCL1, bcl-2 and bax) in the frontal cortex. There was an overexpression of the ICEalpha cDNA in AD patients as compared with age-matched controls (P = 0.03). Our results indicate that several ced-3 and ced-9 homologs are expressed in the adult human brain, and suggest that neuronal cell death in AD might involve an aberrant expression of ICEalpha.
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PMID:Expression of ced-3 and ced-9 homologs in Alzheimer's disease cerebral cortex. 957 87

Interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme is a member of a family of human cysteine proteases with specificity for aspartic acid, which have been named caspases. Within this family of enzymes, transcript X (TX) and transcript Y (TY) (caspases 4 and 5, respectively) are very similar to ICE (caspase 1) and form the ICE subfamily. Given the high degree of conservation in the sequences of these proteases (more than 50% amino acid identity in the mature enzymes), it was of interest to examine whether they shared similar substrate specificities. The three enzymes, ICE, TX and TY, were therefore expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells, as 30-kDa proteins lacking the propeptide. Automaturation into p20 and p10 subunits occurred within the cells. Active ICE, TX and TY were collected in the cell culture supernatants. In addition, their production induced the activation of an endogenous 32-kDa putative cysteine protease (CPP32) like caspase. T7-tagged ICE, TX and TY were purified by immunoaffinity and tested for their catalytic efficiency on YVAD-containing synthetic substrates and on the ICE natural substrate, pro-interleukin-1beta. TX cleaved the same synthetic substrates as ICE (Km of 90 microM and k(cat) of 0.4 s(-1) for Suc-YVAD-NH-Mec, where Suc represents succinyl and NH-Mec represents amino-4-methylcoumarin) and could cleave pro-interleukin-1beta into the same peptides as ICE but less efficiently. On the other hand, TY showed very little efficacy on the different ICE substrates (Km of 860 microM for Suc-YVAD-NH-Mec). These results show that the ICE/TX/TY subfamily has functional heterogeneity and that ICE remains the preferred enzyme for pro-interleukin-1beta cleavage.
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PMID:Enzymatic activity of two caspases related to interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme. 957 63


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