Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.22.56 (caspase-3)
 35,750 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) is a rare and uniformly fatal disorder of early childhood characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenia and widespread infiltration of vital organs by activated lymphocytes and macrophages. In order to test whether the massive accumulation of immune cells in these patients is associated with a perturbation of apoptosis, lymphocytes were isolated from eight patients and subjected to the chemotherapeutic agent etoposide or agonistic anti-Fas monoclonal antibodies in vitro. These stimuli elicited a normal apoptotic response in FHL patient cells when compared to healthy controls, as determined by phosphatidylserine exposure, DNA fragmentation, in vitro cleavage of the caspase-3-like substrate aspartate-glutamate-valine-aspartate-7-amino-4-methyl-coumarin (DEVD-AMC) and proteolysis of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. In addition, the degree of constitutive and Fas-triggered apoptosis in freshly isolated neutrophils was monitored in three children, with similar results. These studies indicate that immune cells derived from FHL patients are not inherently resistant to apoptosis induction. Specifically, etoposide-induced and Fas-triggered activation of intracellular caspases appears to remain intact in these individuals. However, the degree of spontaneous activation of caspase-3-like enzymes in activated lymphocytes was attenuated in three of the four patients tested prior to initiation of therapy, suggesting a possible biological deficiency in these individuals.
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PMID:Induction of apoptosis and caspase activation in cells obtained from familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis patients. 1046 May 99

Yeast two- and three-hybrid systems were used to screen cDNA libraries from HeLa cells and human brain tissue to identify novel protein partners of DNA Fragmentation Factor, the major apoptotic nuclease. The two-hybrid system revealed the DFF45 inhibitory subunit of the nuclease as the only identified partner of the DFF40 catalytic subunit. Similar analysis revealed several protein candidates that potentially interact with the DFF45 subunit: FBXO28, FOSL1, PGK1, PCNT, FHL1 and GFAP. Recombinant GFAP protected DFF45 against cleavage with caspase-3 and prevented activation of the DFF nuclease in vitro. In addition, three-hybrid system results revealed a putative novel protein partner of the DFF40-DFF45 heterodimer. The candidate cDNA contained two open reading frames that mapped to an intron of the GBF1 gene. Products of the candidate cDNA derived from a cell-free transcription/translation system inhibited DNA cleavage by recombinant caspase-activated DFF. This putative partner of DFF may have functional importance in regulating the apoptotic response because its RNAi silencing facilitated cleavage of the DFF45 inhibitor subunit and affected chromatin fragmentation in HeLa cells undergoing apoptosis. This hypothetical protein, named DRIG based on an acronym specifying its genomic location, could be a novel factor involved in regulation of DFF40 apoptotic nuclease.
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PMID:Identification of novel putative regulators of the major apoptotic nuclease DNA Fragmentation Factor. 2115 48

Our aim in this study was to investigate the effect of moderate acute alcohol administration on cysteine protease mediated neuronal apoptosis and nitric oxide production in the traumatic brain injury. A total of 29 adult Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 250-300 g were used. The rats were allocated into four groups. The first group was the control (sham-operated) group in which only a craniotomy was performed, the others were alcohol, trauma and trauma+alcohol groups. Caspase-3 enzyme activity in the trauma group increased significantly in comparison with the control group. The alcohol given group showed a decreased caspase-3 enzyme activity compared to the trauma group. The level of caspase-3 enzyme activity in the alcohol+trauma group decreased in comparison to the trauma group. SF/FEL ratio of cathepsin-L enzyme activity in the trauma group was significantly higher than in the control group. Our results indicate that moderate alcohol consumption may have protective effects on apoptotic cell death after traumatic brain injury. Protective effects of moderate ethanol consumption might be related to inhibition of lysosomal protease release and nitric oxide production.
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PMID:The neuroprotective effect of acute moderate alcohol consumption on caspase-3 mediated neuroapoptosis in traumatic brain injury: the role of lysosomal cathepsin L and nitric oxide. 2309 40

Four and a half LIM domain protein 1 (FHL1) belongs to the FHL protein family and is predominantly expressed in skeletal and cardiac muscle. FHL1 acts as a scaffold during sarcomere assembly and plays a vital role in muscle growth and development. Autophagy is key to skeletal muscle development and regeneration, with its dysfunction associated with a range of muscular pathologies and disorders. In this study, we constructed FHL1-silenced or FHL1-overexpressed myoblasts to investigate its role in autophagy during the differentiation of chicken myoblasts into myotubules. Our data showed that FHL1 contributes to myoblast differentiation as measured through MyoG, MyoD, Myh3, and Mb mRNA expression, MyoG and MyHC protein expression and the morphological characteristics of myoblasts. The results showed that FHL1 silencing inhibited the expression of ATG5 and ATG7, meanwhile, immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation showed that FHL1 and LC3 interacted to regulate the correct formation of autophagosomes. FHL1 inhibition increased cleaved caspase-3 and PARP abundance and promoted myoblast apoptosis. Furthermore, FHL1 rescued skeletal muscle atrophy through regulating the expression of Atrogin-1 and MuRF1. Taken together, these data suggested that FHL1 regulates chicken myoblast differentiation through its interaction with LC3.
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PMID:FHL1 regulates myoblast differentiation and autophagy through its interaction with LC3. 3163 27